THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


IN  MEMORY  OF 
MRS.  VIRGINIA  B.  SPORER 


PALESTINE 


THE  NEWEST  BORZOI  BOOKS 

LUSTRA 

By  Ezra  Pound 

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THE  THREE  BLACK  PENNYS 
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INTERPRETERS      AND      INTERPRETA- 
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MR.     GEORGE     JEAN     NATHAN    PRE- 
SENTS 
By   George  Jean  Nathan 

OTHERS:    AN    ANTHOLOGY    OF    THE 
NEW    VERSE 
Edited  by  Alfred  Kreymborg 
1917  Issue 

Mi  '     ■* -  -     -. 


*£. 


■f*kff' 


The  Jaffa  Gymnasium  en  Fett 


"••iifTTC 

Hi 


A  Festival  at  Tel  Aviv 


PALESTINE 

THE  REBIRTH  OF  AN  ANCIENT  PEOPLE 


BY 
ALBERT  M.  HYAMSON 


^d*1  rDOTi  ttfamv  inapK  d« 


NEW  YORK       ALFRED  A.  KNOPF       MCMXVII 


COPYRIGHT,  1917,  BY 
ALFRED  A.  KNOPF 

Publisher,  August,  1917 


PRINTED    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES    OF    AMERICA 


TO 
PHILIPP  AND  DAVID 


2040726 


PREFACE 

Of  all  the  numberless  names  to  be  found  in  the  gazet- 
teers, there  is  none  that  excites  so  widespread  and  so 
intense  an  interest  as  that  of  Palestine.  There  is  no  one 
in  whom  the  name  of  his  own  country,  especially  when 
found  amid  alien  surroundings,  fails  to  arouse  a  thrill. 
Some  there  are  who  have  personal  interests  or  relation- 
ships in  foreign  lands,  which  endow  the  names  of  those 
regions  with  a  special  personality  and  life,  lacking  in  the 
description  of  regions  which,  so  far  as  the  reader  is  con- 
cerned, belong  to  the  book  and  to  the  book  alone.  To 
many  the  names  of  Greece  and  of  Italy  have  a  special 
call;  to  yet  others  Egypt  or  Assyria  have  an  attraction 
of  which  those  for  whom  archaeology  has  no  charm  can 
have  no  consciousness.  Yet  all  these  votaries  of  their 
own  and  of  other  lands,  taken  in  the  aggregate,  do  not 
exceed  in  number  those  in  whom  the  name  of  that  small 
and  geographically  unimportant  region  whose  shore  is 
lapped  by  the  eastern  waters  of  the  Mediterranean 
arouses  a  vivid  interest.  Britain,  France,  Germany,  and 
Russia,  hold  the  first  place  in  the  minds  and  affections 
of  most  of  the  inhabitants  of  those  countries.  Few  of 
them,  if  any,  have  the  second  place  unoccupied,  and 
among  the  overwhelming  number  that  place  is  filled  by 
Palestine,  a  land  sacred  to  Christian,  Jew,  and  Moslem 
alike. 

The  number  of  books  on  Palestine  is  legion,  yet  it  is 
remarkable  how  very  little  is  known  of  the  land.     It 


viii  Preface 

would  almost  seem  that,  at  any  rate  so  far  as  the  West- 
ern lands  are  concerned,  every  visitor  on  his  return  from 
the  Holy  Land  considers  it  his  duty  to  narrate  for  the 
benefit  of  the  public  his  impressions  and  experiences. 
Thus  the  literature  of  modern  Palestine  seems  without 
end.  Yet,  despite  its  extent,  there  is  a  sameness  about 
its  content  that  renders  it  depressingly  monotonous.  All 
travellers  seem  to  have  followed  the  same  paths,  to  have 
visited  the  same  shrines  and  the  same  sites,  to  have  fol- 
lowed religiously  in  the  footsteps  of  their  predecessors, 
to  have  undergone  much  the  same  experiences,  and  to 
have  recounted  the  same  story,  even  though  in  different 
words.  Seldom  is  it  that  a  traveller  or  writer  steps  off 
the  well-worn  high  road.  He  goes  to  Palestine,  not  as  a 
man  of  the  world,  but  either  as  a  pilgrim,  sometimes  a 
cynic,  or  an  archaeologist.  While  there  he  has  the  eyes 
only  of  a  pilgrim  or  of  an  archaeologist,  and  after  he  has 
returned  to  Europe  or  America,  probably  until  his  dying 
day,  he  assumes  this  attitude  whenever  the  Holy  Land 
recurs  to  his  mind.  To  him  Palestine  is  either  the  cradle 
of  his  faith  or  a  land  of  archaeological  interest.  In  either 
event  it  belongs  entirely  to  the  past.  It  may  have  a 
future,  but  it  certainly  has  no  present. 

This  book  is  of  a  different  description.  It  has  no  con- 
cern with  Palestine  either  as  a  religious  or  an  archaeologi- 
cal centre.  The  past  is  of  no  consequence  except  in  so 
far  as  it  serves  as  an  introduction  to  the  present.  These 
pages  deal  with  the  present  and  the  future,  but  not  the 
spiritual  future.  The  future  to  which  the  writer  looks 
forward  is  one  of  material  prosperity,  which  must  not  be 
considered  in  any  degree  opposed  to  spiritual  develop- 
ment ;  of  a  land  once  again  flowing  with  milk  and  honey, 
inhabited  by  a  happy  people — a  people  who,  seated  in 


Preface  ix 

the  same  land  millennia  ago,  made  mankind  its  eternal 
debtor  by  the  blessings  it  conferred  upon  it,  and  who, 
once  again  restored  to  those  surroundings  from  which  it 
has  been  divorced  for  two  thousand  years  and  more,  will 
resume  its  interrupted  history  and  make  Zion  again  the 
spiritual  centre  of  the  world,  and  themselves  a  nation  of 
priests  devoted  to  the  service  of  humanity.  The  writer 
looks  forward  to  the  regeneration  of  the  land  of  Palestine, 
which  has  been  so  neglected  for  centuries  that  a  country 
which  once  was  among  the  most  fertile  of  known  lands, 
proverbial  for  the  exuberance  of  its  productions,  now 
appears  to  the  superficial  observer  as  a  desert  incapable 
of  cultivation  and  unable  to  keep  its  small  and  scattered 
population  above  the  level  of  beggary.  The  revival  of 
Palestine  has  been  in  motion  for  the  space  of  but  one 
generation.  The  story  of  that  generation  is  narrated  in 
the  following  pages.  In  the  lifetime  of  a  nation  forty 
years  are  but  as  a  day  in  the  lifetime  of  an  individual. 
In  the  most  favourable  circumstances,  relatively  little 
could  be  expected  after  a  lapse  of  so  brief  a  period ;  but 
the  circumstances  around  the  colonization  of  Palestine 
have  not  been  too  favourable.  The  Jewish  settlers  in 
Palestine  have,  however,  had  one  advantage  over  other 
pioneers  in  all  other  climes.  These  latter,  no  matter  how 
determined  to  succeed,  how  devoted  to  their  enterprise, 
know,  consciously  and  unconsciously,  that  they  are  going 
into  exile.  But  the  Jews,  who  breathe  a  new  life  into 
the  dead  bones  of  the  Holy  Land,  do  not  go  into  exile. 
They  return  home,  and  the  home  from  which  by  force 
and  by  violence  they  have  been  excluded  for  centuries. 
The  hunted  victims  who  are  taking  refuge  in  Palestine 
leave  the  land  of  exile  behind  them.  They  come  out  of 
the  darkness  into  the  light  and  the  inspiration  of  their 


x  Preface 

labours  lies  not  only  in  the  hope  of  creating  a  home  for 
their  weary  bodies,  a  refuge  for  themselves  and  also  for 
their  children,  where  they  will  be  secured  against  the 
agonies  which  they  and  their  fathers  have  suffered  in  the 
lands  of  exile.  That  alone  is  a  sufficient  incentive  to 
ceaseless  toil  and  determination  to  overcome  the  insuper- 
able. But  in  Palestine,  which  is  still  the  Promised  Land 
to  the  Jew  of  the  Pale  of  Settlement,  lies  another  hope, 
equal  to,  nay,  greater  in  intensity  than,  that  of  the  re- 
lease of  the  individual  from  bondage.  In  Palestine  the 
Jew  of  Eastern  Europe  dreams  that  freedom  will  be 
found  not  only  for  Jewry,  but  also  for  Judaism — freedom 
to  develop  on  its  own  lines,  unshadowed  by  the  mighty 
systems  that  surround  it  in  Europe ;  at  liberty  to  follow 
its  own  course.  Given  that  liberty,  the  Jew  never  doubts 
that  Judaism  will  be  well  able  to  justify  itself,  and  that 
once  again,  as  of  yore,  "out  of  Zion  shall  go  forth  the 
Law  and  the  Word  of  the  Lord  from  Jerusalem. ' ' 

I  am  indebted  to  several  friends  for  assistance  in  the 
preparation  of  this  volume.  In  particular  I  wish  to 
thank  Mr.  Leon  Simon  and  Mr.  S.  Tolkowsky,  himself  a 
settler  in  Palestine,  for  having  read  the  complete  volume 
in  proof,  and  for  having  given  me  the  benefit  of  their 
much  appreciated  criticisms  and  suggestions.  Miss 
Annie  Landau,  the  Head  Mistress  of  the  Evelina  School 
of  Jerusalem,  and  Mr.  Herbert  Bentwich,  prominent  in 
the  councils,  first  of  the  Choveve  Zion  and  afterwards  of 
the  Zionist  movement  in  England,  have  read  the  chapters 
which  relate  more  especially  to  the  organizations  with 
which  they  have  been  connected  and  to  the  phases  of 
the  subject  which  come  closest  to  them,  and  by  their 
advice  I  have  been  enabled  to  escape  many  pitfalls  into 


Preface  xi 

which  I  should  otherwise  have  fallen.  The  question  of 
illustration  was  a  difficult  one.  Palestinian  photographs 
are  obtainable  by  the  thousand,  but  those  illustrative  of 
the  new  life  in  Palestine  exist  only  in  units.  Even  of 
the  few  that  have  been  taken,  the  War  has  rendered 
many  temporarily  unavailable.  The  same  cause  has 
made  it  impossible  at  present  to  supplement  the  existing 
meagre  supply.  But  in  this  matter  also  friends  have 
come  to  my  assistance.  The  majority  of  the  illustra- 
tions, none  of  which  have  been  published  previously,  are 
from  photographs  taken  by  Mr.  Murray  Kosenberg. 
Others  Sir  Edward  Stein  has  kindly  permitted  me  to  re- 
produce. To  both  of  these  gentlemen  I  desire  to  express 
my  thanks.  The  few  remaining  photographs  were  taken 
by  myself.  The  map  of  Palestine  is  reproduced  from 
"Zionism  and  the  Jewish  Future,"  by  permission  of  the 
editor,  Mr.  H.  Sacher,  and  the  publisher,  Mr.  John  Mur- 
ray, C.V.O.,  of  that  work,  to  whom  also  I  desire  to  ex- 
press my  thanks. 


CONTENTS 

Preface,  vii 

Contents,  xiii 

Illustrations,  xv 
chapter 

I    Palestine  Under  the  Romans,  1 

II    Under  the  Byzantines  and  the  Moslems,  12 

III  The  Crusades  and  the  Kingdom  of  the  Franks,  19 

IV  From  the  Fall  of  Jerusalem  to  the  Final  Ex- 

pulsion of  the  Franks,  31 

V  The  Turkish  Dominion,  38 

VI  The  Nineteenth  Century,  46 

VII  The  Growth  of  the  Towns,  59 

VIII  Jerusalem,  70 

IX  The  Other  Towns,  84 

X  The  Earlier  Colonization  Projects,  92 

XI  The  Colonization  of  Palestine,  105 

XII  The  Colonies  in  Detail — I.  Judaea,  124 

XIII  The  Colonies  in  Detail — II.  Galilee,  142 

XIV  The  Colonies  in  Detail — III.  Samaria  and  Trans- 

JORDANIA,  153 

XV    The  Zionist  Idea  Before  Theodore  Herzl,  159 

XVI    The  Era  of  the  "  Choveve  Zion,"  172 

XVII    Theodore  Herzl,  184 

xiii 


xiv  Contents 

CHAPTER 

XVIII  The  East  African  Project,  and  After,  200 

XIX  Jewish  Organizations  at  Work  in  Palestine,  217 

XX  Education  in  Palestine — The  Old,  231 

XXI  Education  in  Palestine — The  New,  238 

XXII  The  Rehabilitation  of  Hebrew,  253 

XXIII  The  Economic  Present  and  Future,  261 

XXIV  The  Political  Future,  279 
Bibliography,  285 

Index,  287 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


The  Jaffa  Gymnasium  en  Fete! 

(Frontispiece 
A  Festival  at  Tel  Aviv  J 


Breaking  the  Soil  After  Two  Thousand  Years! 
Colonists  at  Work  J 

A  Colonist's  House  -\ 

A  Street  in  Petach  TikvahJ 

A  Labourer's  House 


►134 
Yemenite  Boys  at  Work.' 

The  Farm  at  Kinnereth 

A  Colonist's  Wife  at  Kinnereth 


The  Produce  of  the  Land! 

KL56 
The  Wine  Harvest  J 


Weaving  Carpets  in  Bezalel! 
The  Bezalel  School  J 


Packing  Oranges  for  Export' 


|l48 


Loading  Wine  at  Jaffa 


J2( 


PALESTINE 

CHAPTER  I 

PALESTINE  UNDER  THE  ROMANS 

The  year  70  of  the  present  era  marks  the  end  of  the  Jew- 
ish State  and  the  opening  of  the  last  and  most  widespread 
of  the  exiles.  The  day  on  which  the  victorious  legions  of 
Titus  spread  fire  and  sword  through  the  city  of  Jerusa- 
lem, and  after  having  plundered  and  massacred  the 
wretched  remnant  of  the  inhabitants,  razed  to  the  ground 
almost  every  stone  of  the  city,  was  the  death-day  of  Jew- 
ish self-government.  The  9th  of  Ab,  already  a  fatal  day 
in  Jewish  annals,  was  not  the  death-day  of  the  Jewish 
people;  but  it  marked  the  end  of  the  Jewish  nation. 
Henceforth  the  history  of  the  Jews — a  story  of  incon- 
ceivable misery  and  suffering,  yet  one  of  almost  marvel- 
lous triumph  over  circumstances — lies  in  the  Diaspora, 
in  every  part  of  the  world  except  in  Palestine.  The 
Holy  Land  alone  of  all  the  lands  of  the  Old  World,  ex- 
cept on  very  rare  occasions,  lies  outside  the  orbit  of  Jew- 
ish history.  The  sack  of  Jerusalem  and  the  massacre  of 
its  inhabitants  did  not,  however,  utterly  destroy  the 
Palestinian  Jews.  The  losses  the  Jewish  people  suffered 
in  the  course  of  the  war,  in  battle,  by  massacre,  and  from 
starvation,  are  computed  at  more  than  a  million.  Al- 
most an  equal  number  taken  captive  were  sold  into  slav- 

l 


2  Palestine 

ery  or  suffered  frightful  deaths  for  the  amusement  of  the 
populace  on  some  Roman  festival.  Nevertheless,  Pales-" 
tine  was  not  denuded  of  its  Jewish  inhabitants,  and  de- 
spite vicissitudes  and  agonies  which  make  the  history  of 
the  Jews  of  Palestine  a  miniature  history  of  the  Jews  in 
the  Diaspora,  the  country  during  the  succeeding  eighteen 
centuries  has  never  been  entirely  devoid  of  Jews  or  of 
Jewish  communities. 

The  terrible  consequences  of  the  unsuccessful  revolt 
against  the  Romans  rendered  impossible  any  political 
action  on  the  part  of  the  few  survivors  who  were  toler- 
ated in  the  land,  and  who  for  the  most  part  clung  to  the 
coast.  Those  of  them  who  had  formerly  had  means,  had 
been  reduced  by  confiscations  to  poverty.  The  others 
who  had  never  possessed  wealth  were  sunk  in  even  direr 
distress.  The  recent  terrible  events  had  utterly  crushed 
out  of  them  all  national  feeling.  Broken  in  spirit,  their 
only  thought  was  to  find  sufficient  food  to  keep  them- 
selves and  their  families  in  existence  until  the  end  of 
their  appointed  time.  With  one  exception  the  events  of 
the  world  were  no  longer  of  interest  or  consequence  to 
them.  But  this  exception  was  the  one  that  had  inspired 
the  most  heroic  defence  that  history  either  before  or 
since  their  day  has  ever  seen.  It  was  the  preservation  of 
their  spiritual  ideal,  of  the  pure  creed  of  Judaism,  of  the 
morality  on  which  the  whole  of  the  moral  system  of  mod- 
ern civilization  takes  its  stand.  Henceforth  the  mission 
of  Israel  was  to  keep  alive  and  transmit  from  generation 
to  generation  the  religious  teachings  which  directly  or 
indirectly  have,  from  that  day  to  this,  been  the  light  of 
the  world. 

Judaism  is,  and  always  has  been,  much  more  than  a 
system  of  religion  or  a  theology.     It  is  in  the  fullest 


Under  the  Romans 


sense  a  civilization,  with,  a  literature,  a  point  of  view, 
and  an  intellect  of  its  own,  which  need  fear  no  compari- 
son, especially  when  the  oppressive  restrictions  from 
which  it  has  at  most  times  and  in  most  countries  suffered 
are  considered,  with  the  civilizations  of  other  peoples, 
European  or  Asiatic.  In  its  narrowest  sense,  as  a  reli- 
gion, Judaism  is  dependent  entirely  on  scholarship  and 
learning.  This  is  illustrated  by  the  aphorism  that  an 
ignorant  man  cannot  be  a  Jew.  Consequently  if  the  fall 
of  Jerusalem  had  carried  with  it  the  destruction  of  the 
Jewish  schools,  Judaism  would  have  disappeared  with 
its  capital.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  another  Jewish  centre 
of  learning  arose  in  Palestine  even  before  the  last  hour 
of  the  city  had  struck.  The  College  at  Jamnia,  near  the 
coast  at  Jaffa  (or  Joppa),  was  founded  by  Jochanan  ben 
Zakkai,  who  is  traditionally  believed  to  have  escaped 
from  Jerusalem  during  the  Siege  concealed  in  a  coffin. 
Jochanan  had  been  a  member  of  the  Synhedrin  in  Jeru- 
salem, and  by  him  that  body,  which  became  the  legisla- 
tive body  of  the  Jewish  Church,  was  reconstituted  in  his 
new  home,  but  henceforth  it  had  no  political  powers. 
Farther  north  in  Galilee,  Agrippa  and  his  sister,  Bere- 
nice, the  last  of  the  family  of  Herod,  used  the  consider- 
able influence  which  they  had  with  Titus  for  the  benefit 
of  their  people.  Consequently  the  recovery  from  the  dis- 
astrous war  was  more  rapid  in  that  part  of  the  country, 
and  Tiberias  and  Sepphoris,  which  had  escaped  the  de- 
struction prevalent  farther  south,  gained  greater  impor- 
tance as  Jewish  centres. 

In  the  meanwhile  the  attitude  of  the  Romans  towards 
the  Jewish  remnant  quite  incapable,  apparently,  of  any 
harm,  had  become  less  harsh.  Jewish  communities  be- 
gan to  come  again  into  existence  in  the  depopulated  cen- 


4  Palestine 

tres ;  the  seats  of  learning  flourished  more  and  more ;  and 
there  is  even  evidence  that  there  were  individual  Jews 
owning  land  and  slaves.  Nevertheless,  the  Jews  of  Pal- 
estine were  little  more  than  helots  or  outlaws. 

In  the  year  116  Palestine  was  convulsed  by  the  echoes 
of  the  great  Jewish  revolt  throughout  the  Roman  world. 
The  victorious  rebels  marched  from  Cyrene  across  Egypt 
into  Palestine,  where  they  were  met  by  the  newly  ap- 
pointed governor,  Lucius  Quietus,  who  had  recently 
destroyed  the  Jews  of  Babylon.  In  the  course  of  the 
succeeding  operations  the  Jews  of  Palestine  suffered 
terribly.  The  College  and  Synhedrin  at  Jamnia  were 
suppressed.  Quietus  was,  however,  recalled  by  the  Em- 
peror Hadrian,  and  the  remnant  of  Jews  in  Palestine 
breathed  again.  Hadrian  seemed  at  first  not  unsym- 
pathetic towards  his  Palestinian  Jewish  subjects,  and  it 
is  even  said  that  he  gave  them  permission  to  rebuild 
the  Temple.  Such  encouragement  restored  the  spirit  of 
the  people,  which  showed  itself  when  Hadrian's  acts  fell 
short  of  his  promises  and  there  were  some  threats  of  re- 
bellion, which  were  quieted  by  Joshua  the  Prince  and 
the  Synhedrin,  now  removed  to  Usha,  of  which  he  was 
the  head.  The  subsidence  of  the  movement  was,  how- 
ever, but  temporary.  Hadrian  visited  Judaea  in  130  and, 
satisfied  of  the  subservience  of  the  Jews  in  all  things, 
determined  to  rebuild  Jerusalem — but  as  a  heathen  city ; 
and  in  furtherance  of  his  plan  of  Romanization  pro- 
scribed certain  of  the  essential  observances  of  Judaism. 
Thus  once  again  was  Judaism  in  danger  of  forcible  ex- 
tinction, and  once  again  the  whole  of  the  Jewish  people 
rose  to  defend  their  most  treasured  possession. 

So  long  as  Hadrian  remained  in  Syria  the  preparations 
for  the  coming  revolt  were  kept  secret,  but  on  his  with- 


Under  the  Romans 


drawal  the  whole  of  the  country  burst  into  flame.  The 
inspiration  came  from  the  world-renowned  Rabbi  Akibah, 
who  on  the  death  of  Joshua  had  become  the  spirtiual 
head  of  the  people.  The  leader  of  the  army  that  sprang 
into  existence  spontaneously  was  Bar  Cochba,  who  in 
consequence  of  his  phenomenal  success  had  Messianic 
powers  attributed  to  him  by  his  admirers  and  followers. 
Immediately  on  the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion  the  prov- 
inces of  Judasa,  Samaria,  and  Galilee  were  evacuated  by 
the  Romans.  Their  attempts  after  the  receipt  of  rein- 
forcements to  recapture  the  country  availed  nothing 
against  the  rebels,  whose  army  is  said  to  have  numbered 
over  half  a  million.  Julius  Severus,  the  greatest  soldier 
of  his  age,  was  summoned  from  Britain  to  restore  prestige 
to  the  Roman  arms,  but  even  he  could  not  prevail  against 
Bar  Cochba.  The  latter 's  army  attracted  recruits  from 
the  Jewries  of  all  countries.  Those  who  could  not  serve 
in  person  sent  of  their  treasure.  Even  non-Jews  joined 
the  rebel  forces.  The  Judaao-Christians  alone  kept  apart, 
and  from  this  time  may  be  dated  the  final  breach  be- 
tween the  Jews  who  kept  to  the  old  paths  and  their  kins- 
men who  adopted  the  teachings  of  the  disciples  of  Jesus. 
Jerusalem  was  made  the  capital  of  the  rebel  State.  Bar 
Cochba  was  proclaimed  King,  and  ruled  the  kingdom 
which  he  had  won  by  his  arms.  It  was,  however,  impos- 
sible permanently  to  withstand  the  pressure  of  the  armies 
of  Severus.  From  defeat  they  gradually  proceeded  to 
victory  and  to  yet  further  victory.  Jerusalem  was  taken 
by  the  Romans,  and  other  strongholds  shared  its  fate. 
At  length  Bither  remained  the  only  fortress  in  the  pos- 
session of  Bar  Cochba.  On  the  9th  of  Ab — a  thrice 
fatal  anniversary — 134,  Bither  was  betrayed  by  some  of 
its  inhabitants.    The  Romans  entered  the  fortress,  and 


6  Palestine 

after  a  stubborn  battle  in  which  both  sides  suffered  very 
heavily,  defeated  their  adversaries  and  put  the  survivors 
to  death.  Bar  Cochba  was  either  slain  in  battle  or  mur- 
dered by  a  renegade.  Akibah  was  taken  prisoner  and 
died  under  torture.  Of  the  Jews — men,  women,  and 
children — who  were  caught  in  all  parts  of  the  land,  most 
were  massacred:  the  remainder  were  sold  into  slavery. 
In  the  fall  of  Bither  alone  half  a  million  Jews — includ- 
ing fugitives  from  the  other  cities — are  said  to  have  lost 
their  lives.  Those  who  surrendered  were  put  to  death 
equally  with  those  who  were  taken  in  the  open.  Most  of 
the  survivors  fled  into  Arabia,  where  they  gave  rise  to 
the  Jewish  tribes  which  in  a  later  century  contested  with 
Mohammed  the  hegemony  of  the  country,  and  whose  de- 
scendants still  form  one  of  the  most  valuable  elements  in 
the  population  of  the  Yemen  and  of  the  Aden  Hinter- 
land. 

With  the  suppression  of  the  revolt  Hadrian  was  more 
determined  than  ever  to  suppress  nonconformity  to  the 
official  Roman  religion.  The  new  pagan  city  ^Elia  Cap- 
itolina  therefore  arose  on  the  site  of  Jerusalem,  and  not 
only  was  a  heathen  temple  erected  where  the  Temple  of 
the  Jews  once  stood,  but  the  Holy  Places  of  the  Chris- 
tians at  Bethlehem,  and  of  the  Samaritans  on  Mount 
Gerizim,  were  similarly  defiled.  Jews  were  entirely  ex- 
cluded from  the  precincts  of  the  new  city,  and  almost  two 
centuries  had  to  pass  before  they  were  again  allowed  to 
live  on  the  soil  of  what  had  once  been  Jerusalem.  The 
oppression  by  Turnus  Rufus,  the  new  governor  of  the 
province,  was  so  severe  that  the  few  Jews  who  remained 
in  the  land  were  not  even  permitted  to  bury  their  dead. 
The  corpses  had  to  remain  above  ground  as  warnings  to 
the  survivors.     Fortunately  Hadrian  died  in  137,  and 


Under  the  Romans 


his  successor,  Antoninus  Pius,  proved  more  humane  to- 
wards his  Palestinian  Jewish  subjects.  As  a  consequence 
the  religious  leaders  began  to  return  from  exile.  A  re- 
ligious capital  was  again  established  at  Usha,  and  after- 
wards transferred  to  Galilee,  which  district,  and  espe- 
cially the  city  of  Tiberias,  remained  for  long  the 
principal  Jewish  centre.  The  considerable  ruins  of 
synagogues,  dating  from  this  period,  which  are  still  to  be 
found  in  this  region,  attest  the  importance  of  the  Jewish 
population  of  Galilee  during  the  second  and  later  cen- 
turies of  the  present  era.  More  enduring  monuments 
of  the  Jewish  activity  of  these  times  in  Galilee  are  the 
Mishnah,  or  code  of  oral  tradition,  and  the  Palestinian 
or  "Jerusalem"  Talmud. 

The  most  favourable  of  the  conditions  under  which  the 
Jews  of  Palestine  lived  in  the  first  centuries  of  the  pres- 
ent era  was  one  of  oppression,  and  it  is  therefore  not  sur- 
prising that  their  sympathies  were  with  the  Parthians  in 
the  revolt  against  Rome  in  161.  In  the  resultant  cam- 
paign Lucius  Verus,  one  of  the  joint  Emperors,  came  to 
Syria,  where  he  withdrew  the  few  rights  which  the  Jews 
still  enjoyed  and  suppressed  the  Synhedrin  of  Usha. 
It  was  at  this  time  that  the  spiritual  centre  was  removed 
to  Galilee.  Verus'  colleague,  Marcus  Aurelius,  dealt 
more  gently  with  the  Jews,  and  among  other  concessions 
permitted  them  to  visit  Jerusalem  for  prayer.  During 
the  following  century  and  a  half  there  is  little  to  record 
of  Palestinian  history.  Jews  and  Christians  were  almost 
equally  oppressed.  Only  the  Samaritans  obtained  rela- 
tive favour  with  the  Romans.  Rabbi  Judah  the  Holy, 
who  was  for  a  long  period  Patriarch  of  the  Jews,  ruled 
them  wisely  and  well,  but  he  was  unable  to  contend 
against  the  extreme  poverty  into  which  they  were  for 


8  Palestine 

the  most  part  sunk,  poverty  due  to  a  large  extent  to  the 
heavy  taxation  which  the  Romans  laid  upon  them. 

Henceforward  Palestinian  history  may  be  said  to  have 
been  dormant  until  the  era  of  Constantine  and  the  con- 
sequent powerful  Christian  revival. 

Constantine  adopted  Christianity  about  the  year  324. 
He  had  previously,  in  pursuance  of  his  policy  of  religious 
toleration,  placed  Judaism  formally  on  a  level  with  the 
other  religions  of  the  Empire,  and  its  Patriarchs  and 
other  officers  were  recognized  as  ranking  equally  with 
the  officers  of  other  faiths.  The  Patriarch  of  Juda?a  was, 
in  fact,  officially  regarded  as  the  spiritual  head  of  all  the 
Jews  of  the  Empire.  This  was,  however,  previous  to  the 
Emperor's  conversion  to  Christianity.  "With  his  new 
religion  he  imbibed  all  the  intense  hatred  which  his  new 
co-religionists  felt  towards  the  people  from  whom  their 
own  faith  had  been  derived.  An  era  of  state  persecu- 
tion of  the  Jews  throughout  the  Empire  commenced,  and 
a  regular  campaign  was  initiated  for  the  compulsion  of 
Jews  to  adopt  Christianity.  Finally,  at  the  Council  of 
Nice,  the  last  thread  that  connected  Christianity  with 
Judaism — the  dependence  of  the  Christian  on  the  Jewish 
calendar — was  broken.  Whatever  chance  the  numeric- 
ally insignificant  Jewish  population  of  Palestine  had  of 
escaping  from  the  rigour  of  the  new  persecution  from 
which  their  brethren  elsewhere  were  suffering,  was  de- 
stroyed by  the  interest  aroused  in  the  Holy  Land  by 
Helena,  the  mother  of  the  Emperor,  who  visited  Pales- 
tine in  326  in  order  to  discover  the  Holy  Places,  and  thus 
inaugurated  the  long  line  of  Christian  pilgrims.  The 
Law  of  Hadrian  which  forbade  Jews  to  live  in  Jerusa- 
lem, but  had  been  falling  into  desuetude,  was  thereupon 
re-enacted.     The   Jews,    however,    were   formally   per- 


Under  the  Romans 


mitted  to  mourn  there,  on  payment,  on  the  anniversary 
of  the  destruction  of  the  Temple.  At  the  same  time 
other  oppressive  laws  were  introduced,  while  the  Chris- 
tians were  given  facilities  for  the  erection  of  churches 
throughout  Galilee,  which  was  at  the  time  then  practi- 
cally a  Jewish  land.  The  persecution  reached  its  height 
under  Constantine's  successor,  Constantius,  by  whom  a 
deliberate  and  long-sustained  attempt  was  made  to  crush 
out  the  teaching  of  Judaism,  and  by  this  and  other  means 
to  cause  the  ultimate  disappearance  of  the  faith.  The 
oppression  by  Constantius  led  to  a  considerable  emigra- 
tion from  Palestine  towards  the  East,  and  the  spiritual 
hegemony  of  Jewry  permanently  left  the  country.  For 
many  years  those  who  remained  suffered  the  direct  per- 
secution at  the  hands  of  the  predominant  power.  The 
system  of  taxation,  for  instance,  seemed  deliberately  in- 
tended for  the  destruction  of  the  Jewish  people.  It  is 
not  surprising,  therefore,  that  the  Jews  of  Galilee  were 
ultimately  goaded  to  revolt,  but  the  rebellion  was  sup- 
pressed without  much  trouble,  the  rebels  with  their  fam- 
ilies being  put  to  the  sword,  and  their  towns  razed.  As 
on  the  occasion  of  previous  insurrections,  many  of  those 
who  escaped  were  able  to  do  so  only  by  living  for  long 
periods  in  the  catacombs.  At  this  period  a  change  of 
Emperors  meant  nothing  for  the  Jews:  the  intensity  of 
the  persecution  was  in  no  degree  relaxed.  This  state  of 
things  continued  until  the  advent  of  Julian. 

The  new  Emperor  had  been  an  involuntary  convert  to 
Christianity,  for  which  religion  he  had  no  liking.  On  his 
accession  to  the  purple,  therefore,  he  had  no  hesitation 
in  throwing  off  his  Christian  cloak,  and  henceforth  he 
devoted  himself  to  the  furtherance  of  his  ideal  of  reli- 
gious toleration.    His  accession  in  361  was  a  welcome 


10  Palestine 

respite  for  the  Jews  of  Palestine,  who  were  almost  at 
their  last  gasp.  Not  only  did  he  remove  the  immense 
burden  of  anti-Jewish  legislation,  but  having  through 
his  Christian  education  and  his  study  of  the  Bible  learnt 
somewhat  of  Jewish  history  and  of  Judaism,  his  sympa- 
thies were  aroused  in  favour  of  the  Jewish  people  and 
the  Jewish  character.  He  was  probably  also  influenced 
by  his  dislike  of  the  Christians  and  his  desire  to  mortify 
them  by  the  favour  shown  to  their  former  victims. 
Julian  took  many  means  of  showing  his  favour  to  the 
Jews:  the  most  important  of  them  all  was  his  letter  to 
the  Jewish  communities  of  the  Empire  announcing  his 
intention  of  rebuilding  the  Temple.  This  was  not  an 
empty  promise.  The  Emperor  placed  funds  aside  for 
the  work,  collected  building  material,  and  set  an  army  of 
workmen  to  clearing  the  site  of  the  debris  with  which 
it  had  been  encumbered  for  centuries.  The  Jews  of 
Palestine  had,  however,  been  so  thoroughly  crushed  by 
their  successive  misfortunes,  that  they  had  not  the  heart 
to  participate  in  the  undertaking,  and  could  only  occupy 
the  role  of  spectators.  All  hope  of  the  restoration  of  the 
Jewish  State  had  by  now  been  driven  out  of  their  hearts : 
they  could  no  longer  take  any  step  towards  freedom 
except  at  the  bidding  of  the  Messiah,  whose  coming  they 
eagerly  awaited.  Julian,  no  matter  how  friendly  he 
might  be  to  the  Jews,  was  obviously  not  the  Messiah. 
The  abstention  of  the  Jews  from  participation  in  the 
work,  coupled  with  several  mysterious  fires,  probably 
due  to  the  ignition  of  forgotten  stores  of  oil  formerly 
kept  in  the  vaults  under  the  Temple,  discouraged  the 
workers,  whose  ardour  slackened.  All  possibility  of  the 
restoration  was,  however,  destroyed  by  the  fatal  arrow 
which  struck  Julian  down  in  battle  against  the  Persians 


Under  the  Romans  11 

within  two  years  of  his  accession  to  the  Imperial  throne. 
His  successors  were  Christians,  but  more  tolerant  than 
his  predecessors  had  been,  and  Palestine  may  again  be 
said  to  have  been  without  a  history,  apart  from  ecclesi- 
astical disputes,  until  in  the  division  of  the  Empire  in 
395  it  fell  to  Byzantium.  But  in  the  interval  monas- 
teries, nunneries,  and  hermitages  had  been  planted  by 
the  hundred  throughout  the  land. 


CHAPTER  II 

UNDER  THE  BYZANTINES  AND  THE   MOSLEMS 

So  far  as  Palestine  was  concerned,  the  division  of  the 
Empire  had  little  if  any  immediate  effect.  It  had  since 
the  time  of  Constantine  been  under  the  government  of 
Constantinople,  and  the  change  made  no  alteration  in  the 
seat  of  government  nor  in  the  system  of  goverment. 
The  succeeding  two  hundred  years  formed  a  period  of 
relative  quietude,  during  which  the  country  had  no 
external  history.  It  was  nominally  Christian,  but  the 
people  showed  little  if  any  variation  from  the  type  of 
those  who  lived  there  when  the  government  of  the 
country  rested  with  the  heathens.  The  only  noticeable 
change  was  the  increasing  number  of  Christian  pilgrims 
who  visited  the  Holy  Land  in  order  to  worship  at  the 
Holy  Places,  which  themselves  at  the  same  time  increased 
in  number,  and  the  ever-growing  army  of  priests  who 
ministered  to  them  there.  Throughout  these  centuries 
the  Jews  led  an  uneventful  life,  varied  by  an  occasional 
outbreak  of  persecution,  but  subject  always  to  the  ex- 
tremely oppressive  laws  which  one  Emperor  after  the 
other  enforced  against  them.  Jerusalem  had  ceased  to 
exist  as  a  Jewish  centre.  Tiberias  was  still  the  religious 
capital.  The  bulk  of  the  Jews  of  the  Holy  Land  were  to 
be  found  in  Galilee,  where  they  followed  agriculture  as 
had  their  fathers  before  them.  Nazareth  was  probably 
the  only  city,  the  majority  of  whose  inhabitants  were 

12 


Under  Byzantines  and  Moslems         13 

Jews.  Until  the  time  of  Justinian  the  oppression  of  the 
Jews  of  Palestine  was  entirely  political  and  economic. 
That  Emperor,  however,  who  left  his  mark  on  Jeru- 
salem in  several  stately  Christian  buildings,  brought  the 
Jewish  religion  within  the  orbit  of  his  oppressive  legisla- 
tion. But  pitiful  as  was  the  position  of  the  Jews,  that 
of  the  Samaritans  was  even  worse.  In  the  courts  their 
evidence  was  not  accepted  even  in  cases  in  which  Samari- 
tans alone  were  the  litigants,  and  they  had  not  the  right 
to  dispose  of  their  property  at  death.  So  far  as  the  Jews 
were  concerned,  Justinian  even  forbade  them  to  read 
Isaiah,  lest  in  their  abject  misery  they  might  derive  com- 
fort from  the  exhortations  and  promises  of  the  prophet. 
The  Samaritans,  less  patient  than  the  Jews  in  their  suf- 
ferings, repeatedly  revolted,  but  the  rebellions  were 
easily  suppressed.  On  one  occasion  in  556  the  Samari- 
tans, assisted  by  Jews,  succeeded  in  seizing  Cassarea  and 
the  neighbouring  country,  but  their  success  was  short- 
lived, and  the  punishment  of  the  rebels  was  ferocious. 

In  the  year  611  a  ray  of  hope  shone  on  the  persecuted 
inhabitants  of  Palestine.  The  usurpation  of  the  Em- 
peror Phocas  had  induced  the  Persian  King,  Chosroes 
II.,  to  invade  the  Asiatic  dominions  of  the  Empire.  A 
Persian  army  entered  Syria  from  the  north,  and  to  the 
Jews  they  came  as  deliverers.  All  the  Jews  of  Galilee 
who  were  capable  of  bearing  arms  joined  the  invading 
forces,  eager  to  give  vent  to  their  enmity  against  Rome 
and  Christendom,  which  had  been  pent  up  in  them  for 
centuries.  The  Christians  of  Galilee  suffered  severely 
both  in  person  and  property.  The  Persians,  reinforced 
by  the  Jews,  and  aided  by  a  band  of  Saracens,  swept 
through  Palestine.  Jerusalem  was  taken  by  storm  in 
July,  614,  its  Christian  inhabitants  put  to  the  sword,  and 


14  Palestine 

its  churches  and  sanctuaries  destroyed.  It  seemed  as 
if  Rome  and  Christendom  had  been  finally  driven  out 
of  Palestine.  For  fourteen  years  Palestine  remained  in 
the  hands  of  Persia.  The  Jews  dreamt  that  they  would 
be  allowed  to  establish  a  republic  in  their  ancient  home, 
but  their  hopes  were  not  realized.  Religiously  they 
prospered,  and  made  many  voluntary  converts  from 
Christianity,  but  their  Persian  allies  retained  control  of 
the  country.  On  the  other  hand,  they  inflicted  heavy 
taxation  on  the  Jews,  and  when  differences  arose 
between  the  latter  and  the  Persians  many  of  the 
influential  leaders  of  the  Jews  were  banished  to  Persia. 
Thus  a  coolness  arose  between  the  allies,  and  when, 
about  627,  the  Emperor  Heraclius  approached  the  Jews 
with  promises  of  tolerance,  the  latter  were  not  unwilling 
to  favour  their  ancient  oppressor.  Chosroes'  blindness 
and  age,  coupled  with  dissensions  among  the  Persians, 
gave  Heraclius  the  opportunity  which  he  seized.  Pales- 
tine was  once  again  the  object  of  contest  among  the  na- 
tions, and  when  peace  was  concluded  in  628  the  country 
reverted  to  Byzantium.  The  Emperor  visited  Jerusa- 
lem the  following  year,  and  was  pressed  by  the  monks 
who  received  him  there  to  exterminate  all  the  Jews.  He 
based  his  refusal  to  do  so  on  the  treaty  into  which  he 
had  entered  with  them,  but  he  was  assured  by  the  monks 
that  no  treaty  could  hold  with  the  infidel,  and  that  it  was 
his  Christian  duty  to  destroy  the  Jews  young  and  old. 
As  a  further  incentive  they  offered  to  take  on  their 
shoulders  the  responsibility  for  any  sin  which  their  pol- 
icy might  involve.  The  Emperor  yielded,  and  the  only 
survivors  of  the  Jews  of  Judaea  were  those  who  hid 
underground  or  fled  into  Egypt. 

The  triumph  of  Heraclius  was  short-lived.     Within 


Under  Byzantines  and  Moslems         15 

five  years  Palestine  was  again  invaded,  this  time  from 
the  south-east.  While  Persian  and  Greek  had  been 
struggling  for  the  Syrian  prize,  a  new  religion  and  a  new 
power  had  arisen  in  Arabia.  Mohammed  had  died  in 
632,  but  his  successor  Abu  Bekr,  the  first  of  the  Caliphs, 
with  the  united  warriors  of  Arabia  marching  behind  him, 
determined  to  wrest  the  holy  and  fertile  province  of 
Syria  from  the  hands  of  the  Christian.  Abu  Bekr  died 
in  634,  and  was  succeeded  by  Omar.  Towards  the  end 
of  the  year  635  Damascus  fell  to  the  arms  of  the  new 
Caliph,  and  less  than  a  year  later  Heraclius  was  finally 
defeated  on  the  Yarmuk,  and  compelled  to  abandon 
Syria.  The  Christians  of  the  country  defended  them- 
selves for  some  time  longer  in  isolated  strongholds,  but 
the  dominion  of  the  Emperors  in  Palestine  had  come  to 
an  end.  When  Jerusalem  had  been  occupied,  peace  was 
arranged,  the  conditions  including  certain  perpetual  re- 
strictions on  the  Christians.  They  were,  however,  guar- 
anteed security  of  both  person  and  property,  and  al- 
though the  erection  of  further  churches  or  religious  in- 
stitutions was  prohibited,  the  existing  ones  were  de- 
clared inviolable,  and  Mohammedans  were  forbidden 
penalties  to  interfere  with  them.  Under  the  guidance 
of  the  Christian  Patriarch,  Omar  visited  the  site  of  the 
Temple,  which  he  found  defiled  by  the  filth  which  the 
Christians  had  heaped  upon  it  in  derision  of  the  Jews. 
With  his  own  hands  Omar  helped  to  clean  the  site,  which 
subsequently  became  the  second  most  sacred  in  the 
Moslem  land.  He  was  urged  to  visit  the  church  erected 
over  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  but  refused  to  do  so,  declaring 
that  if  he  set  foot  therein,  it  would  probably  as  a  conse- 
quence one  day  be  claimed  and  seized  by  the  Moslems. 
He  wished  the  church  and  the  site  to  remain  the  prop- 


16  Palestine 

erty  of  the  Christians  for  ever.  The  Ordinances  of 
Omar  which  regulated  the  attitude  of  the  Caliphate  to- 
wards the  Jews  were  extremely  severe,  and  if  they  had 
been  carried  out  without  modification  the  lot  of  the  Jews 
in  Moslem  lands  would  have  been  very  hard.  The  appli- 
cation of  the  Code  was,  however,  far  more  generous  than 
its  letter,  and  in  practice,  so  far  as  the  Jews  of  Palestine 
were  concerned,  the  Moslems  came  as  deliverers  and  not 
as  oppressors.  In  661,  as  a  consequence  of  dissensions 
and  rivalries,  the  seat  of  the  caliphate  was  transferred 
from  Mecca  to  Damascus.  Twenty-three  years  later,  in 
furtherance  of  the  same  policy,  the  Caliph  Abd  el-Melek 
erected  on  the  Temple  site  one  of  the  world's  most  beau- 
tiful buildings,  the  Dome  of  the  Rock,  which  has  come  to 
be  known  as  the  Mosque  of  Omar. 

Already  before  the  rise  of  the  Moslems  there  had  been 
an  Arab  immigration  into  Palestine,  and  when  the  land 
passed  under  the  control  of  an  Arab  dynasty  the  number 
of  settlers  of  that  race  considerably  increased.  Thus  yet 
another  people  was  added  to  the  mosaic  which  formed, 
and  still  forms,  the  population  of  Palestine.  Under 
Omar  and  his  immediate  successors  the  land  on  the  whole 
enjoyed  a  peace,  and  its  inhabitants,  without  distinction 
of  religion,  a  comfort  to  which  both  had  for  centuries 
been  strangers.  Under  Moawiya,  who  ruled  the  land 
from  639  until  680,  during  the  last  years  of  that  period 
as  Caliph,  Palestine  was  one  of  the  best  governed  States 
of  the  world,  and  it  retained  its  peaceful  character  for 
another  two  centuries.  Towards  the  end  of  the  eighth 
century  there  was  a  considerable  immigration  of 
Karaites,1  and  many  of  them  settled  in  Jerusalem  as 
Abelim,  or  Mourners  for  Jerusalem.    In  831  the  Church 

iThe  Protestants  of  Judaism.    The  Karaites,  who  reject  the 


Under  Byzantines  and  Moslems         17 

of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  was  restored,  to  be  destroyed 
again  a  century  later  when  the  revolt  of  the  Carmathians 
sent  a  large  number  of  fanatical  Moslems  to  Jerusalem. 
Previously  many  churches  and  other  Christian  buildings 
had  been  restored  by  the  munificence  of  Charlemagne. 
A  few  years  later  the  secession  of  Egypt  under  the 
Fatimites  carried  Syria  with  it,  and  thus  again  after 
many  centuries  Palestine  became  an  appanage  of  Egypt. 
The  Jewish  and  Christian  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  had 
by  now  become  considerable  in  numbers  and  in  influence. 
In  other  parts  of  Palestine  also  the  removal  of  the  hand 
of  ruthless  persecution  had  enabled  the  Jews  to  stretch 
themselves  in  the  sun  and  to  prosper  and  multiply. 
They  were  to  be  found  in  all  occupations,  but  they  were 
especially  prominent  on  account  of  their  numbers  among 
the  minters,  dyers,  tanners,  and  money  changers. 

At  the  end  of  the  tenth  century  Egypt,  and  also  Syria, 
suffered  from  the  rule  of  an  insane  Caliph  Hakim 
Bi-amrillah,  and  among  the  exploits  of  this  mad  man, 
who  became  the  prophet  of  the  Druses  of  the  Lebanon 
was  the  destruction  of  the  Church.  The  Jews  of  Pales- 
tine suffered  as  severely  as  their  Christian  fellow- 
countrymen  from  the  persecution  of  Hakim.  Neverthe- 
less, their  co-religionists  in  France  were  accused  of 
having  instigated  the  destruction  of  the  Church  and  in 
consequence  were  the  object  of  murderous  attacks.  Hakim 
was  assassinated  in  1020,  and  Palestine  passed  out  of  his- 
tory for  the  next  half-century.  In  the  meanwhile  the 
Jewish  population  of  Jerusalem  had  been  considerably 
diminished.  However,  the  city  throughout  these  years 
of  disturbance  continued  a  place  of  pilgrimage  and  of 

Oral  Law,  the  Talmudic  developments  of  the  Bible,  seceded  from 
the  body  of  Jewry  in  the  eighth  century. 


18  Palestine 

settlement  to  both  Jew  and  Christian,  and  there  is 
reason  for  believing  that  the  Jewish  settlers  in  the 
eleventh  century  came  in  some  instances  from  as  distant 
a  region  as  Germany.  Many  years  previous  to  this, 
Jerusalem  had  again  become  a  centre  of  Jewish  learning, 
and  in  the  former  half  of  the  eleventh  century  an 
attempt  was  even  made  to  revive  the  Gaonate,  the 
University  of  Hebrew  learning,  in  Palestine.  This  was 
the  position  of  affairs  in  1072,  when  the  Seljuk  Turko- 
mans from  Central  Asia,  on  their  march  to  Egypt,  passed 
through  the  country  and  took  possession  of  its  strong- 
holds. The  Turkomans  were  defeated  by  the  Egyptians, 
and  Palestine  and  Syria  were  recovered,  but  one  of  the 
consequences  of  the  invasion  was  the  removal  of  the 
Jewish  College  from  Jerusalem  to  Tyre. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  CRUSADES  AND  THE  KINGDOM   OF  THE  FRANKS 

The  sufferings  of  the  Christians  in  the  Holy  Land,  and 
the  desecration  to  which  the  Holy  Places  had  to  submit 
as  a  consequence  of  the  period  of  turmoil  through  which 
Syria  was  passing,  echoed  and  reverberated  throughout 
Christendom.  From  the  time  of  Constantine  the  stream 
of  pilgrims  from  Europe  to  the  Holy  Land  had  run  with- 
out cessation.  Even  in  the  most  perilous  times  there  was 
no  lack  of  Christians  willing  to  brave  unknown,  the  most 
terrible  of  dangers  in  order  to  pray  at  the  places  which 
their  associations  rendered  almost  divine.  Those  who 
returned  to  Europe  reported  the  miseries  by  which  their 
fellow-Christians  were  being  tortured  at  the  very  birth- 
place of  Christianity,  and  the  narrators  did  not  fail  to 
elicit  sympathy  and  indignation  wherever  they  went  or 
their  narratives  penetrated.  In  1093  Peter,  a  priest  of 
Amiens,  visited  Jerusalem.  On  his  return  to  Europe, 
so  moved  was  he  by  the  feeling  of  shame  that  the  holiest 
places  of  Christendom  should  be  in  pagan  hands,  that 
he  traversed  France,  preaching  a  Holy  War  for  the 
rescue  of  Jerusalem.  The  people  of  the  Continent  had 
been  well  prepared  for  such  a  movement.  The  active 
support  of  the  Pope,  Urban  II.,  helped  it  a  long  way  to- 
wards success,  and  soon  an  army  of  knights  and  common 
soldiers  arose  spontaneously  in  France  and  made  their 
way   towards   the    Holy   Land.    It   is   computed   that 

19 


20  Palestine 

600,000  men  left  France  in  the  course  of  1096.  Only 
40,000  of  them  reached  Jerusalem,  but  this  remnant  suc- 
ceeded in  capturing  the  city  in  July,  1099,  and  in  making 
their  leader,  Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  King.  Thus  began 
the  Latin  kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  which  endured  for 
eighty-eight  years,  and  whose  history  has  been  described 
as  "one  of  the  most  painful  ever  penned."  In  Syria 
itself  many  causes  combined  to  favour  the  invaders.  On 
the  death  of  Malik  Shah,  the  Seljukian  Emperor,  in  1092, 
Syria  had  become  independent  of  that  Empire.  The 
conquest  had  not  been  so  much  a  conquest  as  a  military 
occupation,  and  the  only  one  of  the  numerous  elements 
in  the  country  on  which  the  government  rested  was  the 
Turkish  soldiery  and  officialdom.  Of  the  other  elements 
the  most  favourable  were  those  that  were  neutral.  Even 
the  Turks  themselves  were  split  into  hostile  sections,  and 
above  all,  the  stability  of  the  state  was  threatened  by 
the  Caliph  of  Egypt  in  the  south.  These  factors,  far 
more  than  the  prowess  of  Godfrey,  his  fellow-leaders  and 
their  followers — among  whom  were  Robert  of  Normandy, 
the  eldest  son  of  William  the  Conqueror,  Edgar  Atheling, 
the  last  of  the  Saxon  Princes  of  England,  and  Stephen 
of  Blois,  son-in-law  of  William  and  father  of  King 
Stephen  of  England — contributed  to  the  success  of  the 
Crusade.  In  their  march  across  Europe  the  Crusaders 
had  prepared  for  their  sacred  task  by  massacring  the 
Jews  in  every  city  through  which  they  passed,  and  in 
plundering  and  burning  their  dwellings.  Their  course 
was  marked  by  a  river  of  blood  on  which  shone  the  lurid 
flames  of  burning  homes.  So  appalling  were  the  atro- 
cities they  committed  that  Princes  and  Bishops  were 
shocked  to  horrified  protest.  In  the  Holy  Land  they 
continued  this  procedure.    All  non-Christians  were  to 


The  Crusades  21 


them  the  enemies  of  God,  and  to  be  utterly  rooted  out. 
When  Jerusalem  opened  her  gates  every  Moslem — man, 
woman  and  child — who  could  be  found  was  put  to  the 
sword,  so  that  the  Crusaders  had  to  wade  knee-deep  in 
blood  in  order  to  reach  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 
The  Jews  for  their  part  were  driven  into  their  synagogue, 
where  they  were  burnt. 

Godfrey  became  the  first  King  of  Jerusalem,  or,  more 
correctly,  Advocate  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  Of  his  com- 
panions Tancred  became  Prince  of  Galilee  and  after- 
wards of  Antioch,  in  which  principality  he  succeeded  his 
uncle,  Bohemund.  Baldwin,  the  brother  of  Godfrey  and 
his  successor  as  King  of  Jerusalem,  became  Count  of 
Edessa,  and  Raymund,  of  Toulouse,  Count  of  Tripoli. 
Hardly  had  the  Crusaders  settled  in  Jerusalem  when 
they  had  to  repel  an  attack  from  Egypt,  and  in  this  they 
succeeded  at  the  Battle  of  Ascalon.  The  bulk  of  the 
Crusaders  thereupon  left  Judaea,  and  Godfrey  remained 
with  2,000  followers.  Godfrey  died  in  1100,  leaving  the 
kingdom  to  his  brother  Baldwin.  Before  the  latter 
could  arrive  from  Edessa,  the  Patriarch  Dagobert  seized 
the  opportunity  to  attempt  to  obtain  the  kingdom  for 
himself.  The  support  he  obtained  was,  however,  slight, 
and  Baldwin  was  in  due  course  crowned  and  became  the 
first  formal  King.  In  the  course  of  the  following  thirty 
years  the  kingdom,  which  had  at  first  consisted  only  of 
the  districts  of  Jerusalem,  Jaffa,  Ramleh,  and  Haifa, 
spread  northwards  as  far  as  Beirout,  and  in  the  south  to 
El-Arish  on  the  Mediterranean,  and  to  the  head  of  the 
Red  Sea.  Throughout  the  period  large  numbers  o£ 
Europeans  of  all  classes  and  of  all  lands  came  to  Pales- 
tine as  pilgrims,  and  many  of  them  settled  there. 
Commercially  the  country  prospered  by  means  of  inter- 


22  Palestine 

course  with  the  Italian  seamen  and  merchants,  who 
aided  materially  in  the  extension  of  the  limits  of  the 
kingdom.  The  three  Frankish  principalities  in  the 
north,  one  after  the  other,  came  under  the  suzerainty  of 
the  southern  kingdom,  which,  at  the  death  of  Baldwin 
II.  in  1131,  was  at  the  height  of  its  power.  There  were 
a  few  Jews  settled  in  the  trading  centres,  but  the  feudal 
system  of  government,  modelled  on  that  of  France,  had 
no  room  for  Jews  except  as  pariahs.  One  great  blessing 
that  the  Frankish  kingdom  brought  to  the  land  was  that 
of  peace,  and  the  peace  was  soon  followed  by  prosperity. 
A  stable,  energetic  government,  as  was  that  of  the  Latins 
during  the  first  half  of  the  life  of  the  Kingdom,  gave 
security  to  commerce  and  to  industry.  The  land  which 
had  become  a  desert  through  neglect,  oppression  and 
warfare,  became  again  as  fertile  and  as  fruitful  as  in  the 
happiest  days  of  the  Hebrew  State.  A  wide  system  of 
irrigation  and  adequate  protection  against  marauders 
from  the  desert  made  of  the  land  one  huge  garden. 
Sugar-canes,  date-palms,  banana  and  pomegranate  trees, 
grew  in  profusion.  Wheat,  barley,  hay,  millet,  lentils, 
sesame,  cotton,  saffron,  and  indigo  gladdened  the  heart 
of  the  agriculturist.  The  flax  and  dates  of  Palestine 
rivalled  those  for  which  Egypt  was  famous.  Rare  fruits 
flourished  like  wild-flowers.  The  melons  of  Safed  made 
that  city  famous.  On  both  sides  of  the  Jordan,  from  the 
northernmost  limits  almost  to  the  Egyptian  border,  the 
land  was  once  again,  as  in  Bible  times,  flowing  with  milk 
and  honey.  The  products  of  Palestine  were  not  only 
exported  to,  but  also  acclimatized  in,  Europe.  It  was 
at  this  period  that  maize  was  introduced  into  Italy,  and 
that  the  Damascus  plum — the  damson — and  the  shalot 
first  appeared  in  Europe.    Later  the  orange  also  was 


The  Crusades  23 


introduced  from  Palestine.  From  the  sugar-cane  sugar 
was  manufactured.  The  industrial  and  also  the  com- 
mercial activity  led  to  the  settlement  of  a  number  of 
small  towns  throughout  the  land.  Palestine  became  once 
again  the  mart  between  Europe  and  the  East.  The 
natural  routes  from  Asia  to  Africa  had  always  run 
through  Palestine.  Under  a  settled  government  they 
were  more  and  more  frequented.  At  the  same  time  the 
ports  of  Palestine  became  for  Asia  the  gates  of  Europe. 
Through  these  ports  passed  the  wares  of  Damascus  and 
of  Mecca,  of  Persia,  of  India,  and  even  of  further  China. 
The  products  of  Palestine  also,  raw  and  manufactured, 
followed  the  same  route.  Sugar,  silk,  soap,  camelots, 
tartans — derived  from  the  city  of  Tyre — china,  and 
metal-work  were  all  manufactured  in  the  cities  of  Pales- 
tine and  Syria,  and  were  exported  to  Europe.  And 
withal  Frank  and  Moslem  co-operated  and  lived  in  amity 
together. 

Among  the  other  consequences  of  the  settled  state  of 
the  country  was  the  arrival  of  Jewish  pilgrims,  men  of 
learning  and  of  piety,  who  came  to  Palestine  to  ascertain 
for  the  benefit  of  their  co-religionists  in  Europe  the  state 
of  the  land  which  loomed  so  large  in  Jewish  prayers  and 
hopes,  and  also  for  the  more  pious  reasons  of  praying  at 
the  Western  "Wall,  the  only  remnant  of  the  Temple,  and 
at  the  other  Jewish  Holy  Places,  and  of  visiting  the 
graves  of  the  many  illustrious  Jews  who  lie  buried  in 
holy  soil.  Among  the  most  distinguished  of  these  pil- 
grims was  Jehuda  Halevi,  the  Spanish  poet  and  philoso- 
pher— perhaps  the  sweetest  singer  the  Jews  of  the 
Diaspora  have  yet  produced — who  visited  Palestine  in 
1140  and  ended  his  life  while  on  his  pilgrimage  there. 
The  resident  Christian  population  had  long  since  lost  its 


24  Palestine 

crusading  zeal,  and  the  Jew  was  now  more  free  to  live 
in  Palestine  than  in  some  of  the  states  of  Europe.  The 
former  Jewish  population  had  been  practically  anni- 
hilated by  the  massacres  and  warfare  through  which 
they  had  passed,  and  as  a  consequence  the  Jewish  agri- 
culturist who  had  once  been  the  backbone  of  the  people 
was  now  extinct.  The  new  Jewish  population  consisted 
to  a  far  greater  extent  of  merchants  and  traders,  and  also 
included  many  of  the  most  trusted  physicians  of  the 
country;  for  the  rulers  and  Bishops  of  the  Frankish 
States  in  the  Near  East,  like  their  brothers  in  Europe, 
preferred  to  entrust  their  health  to  the  keeping  of  Jewish 
and  Moslem  physicians  rather  than  to  those  of  their  own 
religious  community. 

During  the  earlier  half  of  the  history  of  the  kingdom 
of  Jerusalem  the  relations  between  the  King  and  his 
Moslem  neighbours  were  often  sufficiently  cordial  to  lead 
to  alliances  between  them.  The  relations  with  Damascus 
in  particular  were  for  a  long  time  most  friendly.  But 
the  conquest  of  Edessa  by  the  Turks  under  Nureddin  in 
1144  may  be  said  to  mark  the  turning-point  in  the  history 
of  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem.  The  previous  year  Bald- 
win III.,  the  first  of  the  native-born  Kings,  had  come  to 
the  throne.  The  loss  of  Edessa  aroused  the  remaining 
Christian  Princes  to  attempt  its  recovery.  As  a  first 
measure  the  friendship  between  Jerusalem  and  Damascus 
was  severed,  and  a  considerable  step  was  thus  taken 
towards  the  ultimate  dissolution  of  the  Jerusalem  king- 
dom. "When  the  news  of  the  Christian  loss  in  the  East 
reached  Europe,  the  Pope  issued  an  appeal  to  France 
for  a  new  Crusade,  and  Louis  of  France  immediately 
took  up  the  Cross.  The  eloquence  of  Bernard  of 
Clairvaux  was  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  movement, 


The  Crusades  25 


and  by  him  Conrad  III.  of  Germany  was  induced  to  take 
his  place  at  the  side  of  Louis  VII.  But  whatever  chance 
of  success  the  Crusade  had  was  wrecked  by  dissensions 
among  its  members,  and  the  only  definite  result  was  the 
capture  of  Lisbon.  The  North  German  members  of  the 
expedition  did  not  even  leave  their  own  region,  but 
devoted  their  energies  to  attacking  the  Wends  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Elbe.  Those  who  reached  Asia  laid 
siege  to  Damascus,  and  were  repulsed  without  difficulty. 
By  this  exploit  they  not  only  depreciated  the  reputation 
of  the  Franks  in  Syria  and  Asia  Minor;  they  also 
rendered  the  relations  between  the  former  allies,  Damas- 
cus and  Jerusalem,  still  more  strained.  Of  the  Crusaders 
but  a  handful  reached  the  Holy  Land  itself.  So  far  as 
Edessa  was  concerned,  the  remainder  of  the  principality 
fell  under  the  Mohammedan  rule,  and  with  it  went  a 
portion  of  the  county  of  Antioch.  In  Europe,  as  had 
been  the  case  half  a  century  earlier,  the  swords  of  the 
soldiers  of  the  Cross  were  baptized  in  Jewish  blood.  The 
Pope,  Eugenius  III.,  himself  was  the  first  to  incite  his 
warriors  against  the  Jews  whom  they  met  on  their  way. 
The  road  indicated  by  him  was  followed  with  eagerness. 
Anti-Jewish  outbreaks  occurred  simultaneously  in 
France,  North  Germany,  Austria,  and  Spain.  In  fact, 
wherever  Jew  and  Crusader  were  to  be  found  at  the  same 
time,  the  Jew  was  considered  fair  game.  In  Jewish 
history  the  Second  Crusade  opened  a  long  period  of 
murder,  rapine,  and  plunder,  which  lasted  for  centuries 
after  the  last  of  Eugenius'  warriors  had  passed  to  their 
rest. 

In  the  years  that  followed  immediately  after  the 
Second  Crusade,  Jerusalem  under  Baldwin  and  Amalric 
I.  was  in  effect  a  dependency  of  the  Eastern  Empire. 


26  Palestine 

In  the  meanwhile  Damascus  passed  into  the  power  of 
Nureddin,  who  was  thus  appreciably  nearer  to  Jerusalem, 
The  previous  year,  1153,  Baldwin  of  Jerusalem,  with  the 
support  of  the  Emperor,  had  captured  Ascalon,  a  town 
which  had  withstood  the  Franks  for  half  a  century,  and 
had  thereby  opened  the  road  to  Egypt,  after  Jerusalem 
the  principal  goal  of  the  Franks.  Egypt  was,  however, 
also  the  goal  of  Nureddin.  The  two  forces  met  there 
and  fought  in  1164.  The  Turk  won.  His  lieutenant, 
Shirguh,  became  Vizier  of  Egypt,  an  office  in  which  he 
was  succeeded  on  his  death  by  his  nephew,  Saladin,  who 
on  the  death  of  the  Caliph  in  1171  became  the  sole  ruler 
of  Egypt.  Jerusalem,  caught  by  the  Turkish  powers 
settled  in  Damascus  in  the  north  and  in  Cairo  in  the 
south,  was  in  great  jeopardy.  Jealousies  between  Nured- 
din and  his  lieutenant  in  Egypt,  however,  kept  off  the 
threatening  blow  for  some  years.  The  Turkish  ruler 
died  in  1174,  leaving  a  child  to  succeed  him.  Amalric 
died  the  same  year,  leaving  his  throne  also  to  a  child. 
Saladin  survived  in  the  fulness  of  his  power.  The  king- 
dom of  Jerusalem  gained  some  respite  at  the  hands  of 
Eaymund,  Count  of  Tripoli,  who  carried  his  conquests 
beyond  Damascus  and  supported  the  heir  of  Nureddin 
against  Saladin.  Ultimately,  however,  in  1183,  the  ruler 
of  Egypt  brought  the  northern  Turks  under  his  sway. 

During  this  period  of  disorder,  which  was  leading  up 
to  the  final  catastrophe,  the  Jewish  practice  of  journey- 
ing to  the  Holy  Land  was  continued.  In  1165  the 
family  of  Maimonides — the  philosopher,  physician,  and 
philanthropist,  who  a  few  years  later  reappeared  in 
Palestinian  history  as  the  medical  attendant  of  King 
Richard  of  England,  lent  to  him  by  Saladin — in  their 
flight  from  persecution  in  Spain  and  Morocco,  paid  visits 


The  Crusades  27 


of  piety  to  Jerusalem  and  Hebron  before  settling  in 
Egypt.  About  the  same  time  Benjamin  of  Tudela,  the 
best  known  of  all  medieval  Jewish  travellers,  reached 
Palestine  in  the  course  of  his  journey ings.  He  traversed 
the  land  from  north  to  south  and  back  again,  and  in  the 
narrative  of  his  travels  gives  much  information  regard- 
ing the  numbers  of  the  Jews  settled  in  the  towns  of 
Palestine  and  their  condition.  He  found  Jewish  com- 
munities of  some  size  in  all  the  coast  towns  from  Gubail 
to  Ascalon.  Although  none  lived  permanently  among 
the  Druses  in  the  Lebanon,  Jewish  handicraftsmen  and 
dyers  were  accustomed  to  go  among  them  unmolested  in 
pursuit  of  their  trades.  At  Tyre,  where  was  a  large 
Jewish  community,  several  scholars  had  settled.  Many 
of  the  Jews  of  Tyre  were  men  of  wealth  and  owned  sea- 
going vessels.  There  were  also  glassmakers  who  manu- 
factured the  world-renowned  Tyrian  glass  ware,  while 
the  sugar  which  grew  in  the  neighbourhood  was  manu- 
factured and  exported  by  Jews.  Inland,  Sebastiya, 
formerly  Samaria,  is  described  as  lying  in  "a  land  of 
brooks  of  water,  gardens,  orchards,  vineyards,  and  olive 
groves,"  but  no  Jews  lived  there.  Farther  south,  at 
Nablous  or  Shechem,  there  were  a  thousand  Samaritans. 
Jerusalem  he  described  as  a  city  of  many  tongues — 
Jacobites,  Syrians,  Greeks,  Georgians,  and  Franks,  not 
to  mention  Mohammedans.  He  found  only  four  Jews 
living  there.  They  had  by  payment  to  the  King  obtained 
the  monopoly  of  dyeing.  At  Bethlehem  there  were  two 
Jewish  dyers.  Hebron  was  in  ruins.  The  synagogue 
which  had  existed  under  the  Moslems  had  been  trans- 
formed into  a  church.  Nearer  to  the  coast,  at  Ramleh, 
a  relatively  large  Jewish  community  was  found.  At 
Jaffa,  however,  and  at  Jabneh  there  were  no  Jews,  with 


28  Palestine 

the  exception  of  one  dyer  at  the  former  port.  In  Galilee 
Sepphoris  had  no  Jewish  inhabitants;  Tiberias,  fifty. 
Damascus  held  three  thousand  Jews,  many  of  them 
learned  and  rich  men.  At  Tadmor  in  the  Wilderness 
there  were  about  two  thousand,  "valiant  in  war,"  bat- 
tling with  the  Christians  and  with  the  Arabs. 

A  few  years  later  another  famous  Jewish  traveller, 
Petachiah  of  Ratisbon,  visited  Palestine,  and  wrote  the 
narrative  of  his  journey.  His  itinerary  was  shorter  than 
that  of  Benjamin.  Damascus  he  described  as  lying  "in 
the  midst  of  gardens  and  pleasure  grounds.  There  are 
also  high  fountains  from  which  the  water  pours,  and 
many  large  pools.  The  Ishmaelites  say:  'If  Paradise 
be  on  earth,  then  Damascus  is  the  paradise ;  and  if  it  be 
in  heaven,  then  Damascus  is  opposite  on  the  earth.'  " 
The  four  Jews  of  Jerusalem  had  dwindled  to  one,  who 
paid  a  heavy  tax  to  the  King  in  order  to  be  permitted  to 
dwell  there. 

Petachiah  was  in  Palestine  on  the  eve  of  the  last  day 
of  the  Prankish  kingdom.  In  these  last  years  the 
shadow  of  the  approaching  Saracen  lengthened  almost 
month  by  month  over  the  doomed  kingdom,  which  in  the 
end  fell  an  easy  prey.  Its  ruler,  Baldwin  IV.,  was  a 
child  afflicted  with  leprosy.  On  his  death  he  was  suc- 
ceeded by  the  boy,  Baldwin  V.,  who  was  soon  poisoned. 
After  him  in  1186  came  Guy  de  Lusignan,  a  French 
adventurer,  whose  claim  to  the  throne  came  through  his 
wife,  a  daughter  of  Amalric  I.  The  approaching  fate 
was  not  unforeseen.  For  more  than  twenty  years,  since 
all  hope  of  gaining  Egypt  had  been  given  up,  endeavours 
had  been  made  to  turn  it  aside.  In  1184  a  great  mission, 
which  included  the  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem  and  the 
Masters  of  the  Orders  of  the  Temple  and  of  St.  John, 


The  Crusades  29 


had  been  sent  to  Europe  to  offer  the  crown,  first  to  Philip 
Augustus  of  France  and  afterwards  to  Henry  II.  of 
England,  so  as  to  secure  the  support  of  one  of  those 
powers  in  repelling  the  impending  attack.  Henry  II., 
as  an  Angevin,  had  some  claim  to  the  throne  on  the 
extinction  of  the  elder  line  of  Anjou,  represented  by 
Fulk,  who  had  reigned  at  Jerusalem  from  1131  to  1143. 
But  beyond  the  raising  of  a  special  tax  in  France  and 
England,  the  mission  had  no  results.  The  penultimate 
stroke  came  from  another  French  adventurer,  Raynald 
of  Chatillon,  who,  settling  to  the  south-east  of  Palestine, 
fitted  out  a  fleet  with  which  to  attack  the  Arabian  coast. 
Driven  from  the  sea  by  Saladin,  he  turned  brigand  on 
land.  The  capture  in  1186  of  a  caravan  in  which  a 
sister  of  Saladin  was  travelling  precipitated  the  crisis. 
Saladin  determined  once  for  all  to  free  the  Holy  Places 
of  Mohammedanism  from  the  Frank,  and  incidentally 
to  bring  Syria  and  Palestine  once  again  under  Moslem 
rule.  A  new  Holy  War  for  the  recovery  of  Jerusalem 
was  preached,  this  time  by  the  Moslem  instead  of  the 
Christian.  The  war  was  of  short  duration.  The  whole 
of  the  armed  forces  of  the  kingdom  were  destroyed  at  the 
Battle  of  Hattin  in  May,  and  in  the  following  October 
Jerusalem  capitulated  after  a  fortnight's  siege.  By  the 
end  of  1189  all  that  remained  to  the  Franks  from  Asia 
Minor  to  Egypt  was  the  isolated  cities  of  Margat  and 
Tyre  and  the  districts  of  Antioch  and  Tripoli.  The  fall 
of  Jerusalem  led  to  a  considerable  Jewish  immigration 
into  Palestine,  for  wherever  Saladin 's  rule  ran  there  was 
freedom  for  the  Jews  as  for  all  other  races  and  creeds. 
Jerusalem  thereupon  again  became  a  Jewish  centre. 

The  picture  of  the  Latin  kingdom  in  its  last  days  has 
been  drawn  by  Sir  Walter  Besant  in  the  following  pas- 


30  Palestine 

sage:  "The  country  was  dotted  over  with  castles  and 
strongholds,  the  owners  of  which  had  learned,  since  the 
death  of  Amaury  (Amalric),  to  despise  the  authority  of 
the  King.  Moreover,  the  pride  and  power  of  the  Tem- 
plars set  up  a  sort  of  rival  authority.  Every  baron 
fought  for  his  own  land  and  for  his  own  aggrandize- 
ment. There  was  no  more  thought  of  conquest  and 
glory;  they  fought  now  for  plunder  only.  When  pil- 
grims arrived  from  the  "West,  they  were  made  use  of  by 
the  Syrian  barons  for  their  own  purposes;  and  when 
they  were  strong  enough  to  fight  the  Saracens,  no  treaty 
was  sacred,  no  convention  was  kept.  The  cities,  espe- 
cially those  of  the  sea-shore,  were  divided  into  nations, 
such  as  the  Pisans,  the  Genoese,  and  the  Venetians,  all 
of  whom  contended  with  each  other  over  their  privileges, 
and  often  fought  out  their  quarrels  in  the  streets.  The 
Templars  and  the  Hospitallers  bargained  for  their  arms 
by  demanding  the  cession  of  half  a  town,  or  a  fort,  in 
return  for  their  services.  They  quarrelled  with  each 
other,  with  the  Church,  and  with  the  King.  And  with 
the  depravation  of  morals  had  come  a  total  neglect  and 
contempt  of  religion,  with — of  which  there  are  not  a  few 
traces — the  birth  of  an  active  spirit  of  infidelity.  Men 
had  begun  to  question  and  to  compare.  There  were  not 
wanting  renegades  to  be  found  among  the  Mohammedan 
armies.  Islam  received  its  converts  from  the  Christians, 
but  it  gave  back  none  in  return." 


CHAPTER  IV 

PROM  THE  PALL  OP  JERUSALEM  TO  THE  FINAL 
EXPULSION  OP  THE  PRANKS 

The  fall  of  Jerusalem  reverberated  throughout  Europe 
and  immediately  preparations  were  begun  for  the 
recovery  of  the  Holy  City.  A  new  Crusade,  the  third, 
was  preached.  Foremost  among  those  who  took  up 
arms  were  the  Emperor  Frederick,  Philip  Augustus  of 
France,  and  Richard  of  England,  who  considered  that, 
as  heir  to  the  House  of  Anjou,  Jerusalem  had  a  special 
claim  upon  him.  The  new  Crusade,  like  its  predecessors, 
opened  with  massacres  of  Jews,  but  on  this  occasion  only 
in  England;  those  of  France  being  merely  plundered  by 
Philip  Augustus.  The  town  of  Acre  was  the  immediate 
objective  of  the  several  armies  which  set  out  to  recover 
the  Holy  Land.  The  siege  of  this  town  had  been  begun 
in  the  summer  of  1189  by  Guy  de  Lusignan,  who  had 
previously  been  taken  prisoner  at  the  Battle  of  Hattin 
and  had  been  released  on  parole.  Difficulties  dogged  the 
footsteps  of  the  European  armies  before  they  set  foot  in 
Palestine.  The  Emperor  found  himself  on  the  verge  of 
war  with  his  brother  of  the  Eastern  Empire,  who  was 
not  only  unfriendly  in  disposition  to  the  Westerns,  but 
was  almost  in  alliance  with  Saladin.  Frederick  ulti- 
mately crossed  into  Asia,  but  died  by  accident  while  yet 
a  long  distance  from  Palestine.  At  the  same  time  dis- 
sensions and  disputes  arose  between  Philip  and  Richard, 

31 


32  Palestine 

who  ultimately  parted  in  order  to  reach  Acre  by  dif- 
ferent routes.  When  Richard  arrived  at  the  city  the 
siege  had  already  lasted  for  more  than  two  years,  but 
within  a  little  more  than  a  month  it  succumbed  to  his 
arms.  Philip  soon  returned  to  France.  Richard  made 
some  further  conquests  on  the  coast,  but  devoted  most  of 
his  energies  to  negotiations  with  the  object  of  arranging 
a  marriage  between  his  own  sister  and  Saladin's  brother 
with  a  view  to  their  accession  to  the  kingdom.  Ulti- 
mately a  portion  of  the  coast,  of  which  Richard's 
nephew,  Henry  of  Champagne,  became  King,  with  the 
title  King  of  Jerusalem,  was  ceded  to  the  Crusaders. 
Richard  finally  left  Palestine  in  October,  1192.  Saladin 
died  the  following  year. 

The  Fourth  Crusade,  which  lasted  from  1202  until 
1204,  was  directed  in  effect  against  the  Eastern  Empire. 
Some  of  the  Teutonic  knights,  however,  reached  Pales- 
tine and  recovered  Beyrout  and  other  coast  towns. 
Meanwhile  Malik-al-Adil,  the  brother  and  successor  of 
Saladin,  continued  his  beneficent  sway  in  Syria  as  well 
as  in  Palestine  and  Egypt.  Moslem  Palestine  had  by 
now  become  a  haven  of  refuge  for  the  persecuted  Jews 
of  Europe.  The  era  of  bloodshed  and  oppression  was  in 
full  vigour  in  the  West  of  Europe  when,  in  1211,  300  of 
the  Rabbis  of  England  and  France  visited  Palestine  in 
order  to  investigate  the  prospects  of  a  Jewish  immigra- 
tion on  a  large  scale.  The  Sultan  gave  them  a  friendly 
welcome.  The  following  year  was  the  occasion  of  that 
ghastly  tragedy  which  is  known  to  history  as  the  Crusade 
of  the  Children.  Dreamers,  despairing  of  the  reconquest 
of  Jerusalem  by  men,  in  consequence  of  their  apparently 
innate  wickedness  and  vice,  gathered  an  army  of  50,000 
children,  girls  as  well  as  boys,  who  by  their  innocence 


The  Fall  of  Jerusalem  33 

should  prevail  where  their  fathers  had  failed.  But  few 
of  these  child-pilgrims  reached  the  coast  of  Palestine. 
Even  less  wandered  back  to  their  homes.  The  most 
fortunate  were  those  who  were  shipwrecked  and  drowned 
in  the  Mediterranean.  The  memorial  of  this  army  of 
children  is  the  legend  of  the  Pied  Piper  of  Hamelin. 
The  Fifth  Crusade  was  proclaimed  by  Pope  Innocent  at 
the  Lateran  Council  of  1215.  It  devoted  itself  to  attack- 
ing Egypt,  where  the  port  of  Damietta  was  taken.  The 
Sultan  Malik-al-Kamil  was  willing  to  surrender  the 
greater  part  of  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  as  well  as  to 
agree  to  other  terms,  in  order  to  obtain  a  lasting  peace, 
but  the  Papal  Legate  demanded  an  indemnity  in  addi- 
tion. This  was  refused,  and  the  Crusaders  were 
attacked,  driven  back,  and  forced  to  evacuate  Damietta. 
With  this  disaster  the  Crusade  ended. 

The  next  Crusade,  that  of  1228,  was  waged  under  an 
interdict,  and  strange  to  say,  despite  its  excommunica- 
tion by  the  Pope,  it  proved  successful,  though  not  by 
force  of  arms.  It  was  led  by  the  Emperor  Frederick  II., 
who  had  married  Isabella,  the  heiress  to  the  kingdom  of 
Jerusalem,  and  had  assumed  the  title  by  the  right  of  his 
wife.  Delays  in  fulfilling  the  vow  he  had  taken  so 
enraged  the  Pope,  Gregory  IX.,  that  the  latter  placed 
him  under  the  ban.  The  Emperor  nevertheless  sailed 
for  Palestine,  while  the  Pope  preached  and  instigated  a 
Crusade  against  Frederick's  European  dominions.  Ar- 
rived in  Palestine,  the  Emperor  was  shunned  by  the 
Christians  already  there.  Still,  by  dint  of  diplomacy 
and  by  playing  one  Mohammedan  party  against  another, 
he  succeeded  in  inducing  the  Sultan  to  agree  to  a  treaty 
by  which  Jerusalem,  Nazareth,  and  Bethlehem,  together 
with  a  strip  of  land  connecting  with  the  coast,  were 


34  Palestine 

ceded  to  him  for  ten  years,  and  the  coast  towns  already 
in  the  hands  of  the  Christians  were  retained  by  them. 
Frederick  then  entered  Jerusalem,  where,  as  no  Church- 
man would  have  any  dealings  with  him,  he  was  compelled 
to  crown  himself.  The  following  fifteen  years  were  the 
last  in  which  Christians  held  rule  in  Jerusalem.  They 
formed  a  period  of  continual  struggle  between  Frederick 
and  his  barons,  which  ended  in  the  advantage  of  the 
latter.  The  barons  had  hardly,  however,  secured  the 
victory  when  the  cataclysm  overwhelmed  them.  To- 
wards the  end  of  this  period  expeditions  had  come  out 
under  the  lead  of  Theobald  of  Champagne  and  of 
Richard  of  Cornwall  respectively,  but  the  excommunica- 
tion of  the  Pope,  with  whom  Frederick  had  again  quar- 
relled after  having  made  peace,  prevented  their  assist- 
ance from  being  of  much  value.  In  1244  Palestine  was 
overrun  by  a  new  enemy,  and  Jerusalem  plundered  and 
dastroyed  by  the  Kharezmian  Tartars.  The  Franks,  not 
satisfied  with  having  to  face  these  marauders,  made  an 
alliance  with  Damascus  and  went  to  war  with  Egypt. 
But  at  the  Battle  of  Gaza  they  were  deserted  by  their 
allies,  and  beaten  by  Bibars,  who  afterwards  became  the 
Mameluke  Sultan  of  Egypt.  Jerusalem  was  the  prize. 
Ascalon,  which  had  been  strongly  fortified  by  the  Franks, 
fell  three  years  later. 

The  answer  of  Europe  to  this  calamity  was  the  imme- 
diate preaching  of  a  new  Crusade,  directed  against  both 
the  infidels  in  Palestine  and  the  heretic  Emperor  in 
Europe,  and  of  the  two  campaigns  the  Pope  showed  a 
decided  preference  for  the  latter.  St.  Louis  of  France, 
however,  preferred  the  Holy  Land,  but  when  his  army 
reached  Cyprus  he  deflected  it  to  Egypt.  The  invasion 
led  to  a  disaster  which  included  the  capture  of  the 


The  Fall  of  Jerusalem  35 

King  himself.  He  was  released  after  payment  of  a 
ransom  and  then  went  to  Acre,  but  the  whole  of  his 
power  in  the  East  had  by  now  departed.  In  1260  came 
an  invasion  of  Syria  by  the  armies  of  the  Mongol  ruler 
of  Persia,  led  by  a  Christian  general.  They  were  met 
by  the  Egyptians  under  Bibars  on  the  battle-ground  of 
Palestine  and  beaten,  and  as  a  consequence  Damascus 
was  once  again  joined  to  Egypt.  A  similar  fate  befell 
the  Christian  principality  of  Antioch,  as  well  as  the 
majority  of  the  Christian  coast  towns  in  Palestine.  Of 
all  the  Frankish  possessions  in  the  East,  the  principality 
of  Tripoli  and  the  city  of  Acre  now  alone  remained. 

The  eighth  and  last  Crusade  set  out  in  1270  under  the 
lead  of  St.  Louis.  He,  however,  diverted  it  to  Tunis 
in  the  hope  of  converting  the  Bey  to  Christianity.  He 
did  not  succeed  in  his  project,  but  died  in  North  Africa. 
His  brother,  Charles  of  Anjou,  effected  an  advantageous 
settlement  with  the  Bey,  after  which  he  returned  home, 
giving  no  further  thought  to  Jerusalem.  Prince  Edward, 
afterwards  Edward  I.  of  England,  who  had  also  taken 
up  the  Cross,  was,  however,  not  satisfied  with  this  settle- 
ment. He  led  a  party  of  his  own  to  Acre,  where  he 
arrived  early  in  1271,  but  he  could  effect  nothing  there, 
and  he  also  returned  home  in  the  following  year.  The 
last  years  of  the  Franks  in  the  East  were,  despite  the 
imminent  peril,  torn  by  political  and  commercial,  as  well 
as  personal,  rivalries.  In  1289  Tripoli  fell  to  Egypt, 
and  that  county  was  extinguished.  Two  years  later  the 
Sultan  Khalil  took  Acre  by  storm,  and  with  the  fall  of 
that  city  the  last  foothold  of  the  Franks  in  the  East  was 
lost.  Most  of  the  Christians  and  Jews  in  the  city  were 
either  put  to  the  sword  or  executed. 

During  these  last  years  the  fortunes  of  the  Jews  of 


36  Palestine 

Palestine  had  been  at  a  low  ebb.  Under  the  House  of 
Saladin  they  had  always  been  treated  with  humanity  and 
protected  wherever  necessary  as  far  as  possible.  They 
had,  however,  suffered  severely  from  the  incursions  of 
the  Tartars  and  the  Mongols,  and  many  a  flourishing 
community,  including  that  of  Jerusalem,  had  been 
destroyed.  There  were  only  two  Jews  to  be  found  at 
Jerusalem  when  Nachmanides,  the  famous  Spanish  Tal- 
mudist  and  physician  visited  that  city  in  1267.  The 
Moslem  government  was,  however,  quite  favourably  dis- 
posed to  a  Jewish  settlement,  and  with  the  aid  of  the 
Jewish  residents  of  the  neighbouring  villages,  Nach- 
manides was  able  to  form  once  again  a  Jewish  com- 
munity in  Jerusalem.  He  himself  settled  at  Acre,  which 
he  had  made  a  great  centre  of  Jewish  learning  before  he 
died  there  three  years  later.  About  twenty  years  after 
the  settlement  of  Nachmanides  in  Palestine,  there  came 
a  Jewish  immigration  from  the  Rhine  Provinces,  where 
the  miseries  of  the  Jews  were  a  ready  cause  of  migration. 
The  Crusade  in  1270  was  in  effect  the  last  of  the  wars 
of  Christendom  waged  for  the  recovery  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre.  Subsequent  to  that  date  many  attempts 
were  made  to  set  the  armed  forces  of  Christendom  again 
in  motion,  but  the  incentive  which  had  induced  the 
earlier  Crusaders  to  take  up  the  Cross  had  died  away,  and 
all  the  efforts  proved  abortive.  The  nearest  approach 
to  a  real  attempt  to  recover  Jerusalem  was  that  of  Peter, 
King  of  Cyprus,  in  1359.  He  founded  the  Order  of  the 
Sword  for  the  Delivery  of  Jerusalem,  and  himself  went 
on  a  mission  to  the  rulers  of  Europe  in  order  to  gain  their 
co-operation.  In  Europe,  however,  the  crusading  spirit 
was  quite  dead,  and  Peter  was  compelled  to  rely  on  his 
own   resources.    With   these   he   attacked   and   sacked 


The  Fall  of  Jerusalem  37 

Alexandria  in  1365,  and  two  years  later  ravaged  the 
coast  of  Syria.  In  1369  he  was  assassinated,  and  with 
that  murder  died  the  last  glimmer  of  hope  of  the  recovery 
of  the  Holy  Land. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  TURKISH  DOMINION 

Palestine  was  once  again  joined  to  Egypt  under  one 
ruler,  and  under  the  tolerant  rule  of  the  Moslem  it 
became  to  some  extent  a  land  of  refuge  for  the  Jews  of 
Europe.  Jews  were  quite  free  to  come  to  the  land,  and 
if  they  wished  to  settle  there,  they  ran  no  risk  in  doing  so. 
Palestine  thus  became  a  centre  of  Jewish  pilgrimage, 
and  the  Jews  of  Egypt  and  Syria,  as  in  the  days  of  the 
Temple,  began  to  flock  to  Jerusalem  to  celebrate  the 
Jewish  festivals.  Many  of  the  new-comers  settled  in 
the  country  and  engaged  in  agriculture,  in  industry, 
and  in  commerce.  A  few  employed  themselves  in  secular 
studies  and  in  the  practice  of  medicine;  a  large  number 
devoted  the  remainder  of  their  lives  to  Jewish  scholar- 
ship. In  fact,  during  this  period  Palestine  became  again 
a  centre  of  Jewish  learning  where  European  scholars  of 
repute  studied  and  taught.  In  Jerusalem  to  an  especial 
extent  Jewish  students  and  scholars  settled,  but  artisans, 
merchants,  and  physicians  were  also  to  be  found  there. 
The  new  Jewish  population  of  Hebron  devoted  them- 
selves more  to  weaving,  dyeing,  and  the  manufacture  of 
glass  ware.  In  the  South  of  Palestine  the  new-comers 
adopted  a  pastoral  life.  Their  Rabbi  was  also  a  shep- 
herd, and  used  to  teach  his  people  while  he  and  they 
were  tending  their  flocks.  The  Jewish  settlers  in  Pales- 
tine during  the  fourteenth  century  came  from  homes  as 

38 


The  Turkish  Dominion  39 

distant  as  Western  Europe.  A  large  number  of  them 
had  come  from  France,  where  the  fourteenth  century 
was  a  period  of  almost  ceaseless  persecution.  At  the 
same  time  Christians  gradually  resettled  in  the  land  and 
rebuilt  the  churches  at  Jerusalem,  Bethlehem,  and  Naza- 
reth. 

The  year  1402  saw  the  country  overrun  and  ravaged 
by  the  Tartar  conqueror  Timur  (Tamerlane),  but  his 
death  three  years  later  restored  Egyptian  authority. 
With  the  return  of  peace  the  favourable  conditions 
antecedent  to  the  inroad  of  the  Tartars  were  restored. 
So  comfortable,  in  fact,  were  the  Jews  of  Palestine,  com- 
pared with  those  of  other  lands,  during  the  earlier  half 
of  the  fourteenth  century,  that  the  rumour  spread  in 
Europe  that  the  Jews  had  bought  Mount  Zion  and  the 
Holy  Sepulchre,  and  had  demolished  the  buildings  upon 
them.  Without  attempting  to  confirm  the  rumour,  the 
Christian  powers  of  Europe  accepted  it  as  an  excuse 
for  giving  a  few  further  turns  to  the  screw  of  persecu- 
tion. Although  the  material  power  of  the  Jews  of 
Jerusalem  did  not  approach  so  great  a  height,  their 
spiritual  power  waxed  to  such  an  extent  that  for  a  time 
the  rule  of  the  Chief  Rabbi  of  Jerusalem  was  accepted 
by  Jews  throughout  Egypt  and  Sj^ria.  The  prosperity 
of  the  Jews  of  Jerusalem  was,  however,  not  of  long  dura- 
tion. Plague,  famine,  and  economic  depression,  followed 
by  an  unfavourable  change  in  the  political  conditions, 
dealt  repeated  blows  at  the  community  after  the  middle 
of  the  fifteenth  century  had  been  passed.  Emigration 
commenced,  and  a  traveller  who  visited  the  city  in  1481 
reported  that  there  were  then  only  250  Jewish  families 
there.  Within  a  few  years  the  number  had  fallen  to 
seventy  families,  all  in  a  state  of  poverty. 


40  Palestine 

Jerusalem  Jewry  remained  in  this  condition  for  a  very 
short  time.  The  year  1492  saw  the  expulsion  from  Spain 
of  the  whole  of  its  large  and  in  many  respects  illustrious 
Jewish  population.  The  refugees  scattered  along  both 
shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  but  the  Moslem  lands  were 
almost  the  only  ones  in  which  they  were  able  to  find 
undisturbed  shelter.  Palestine  profited  greatly  from  the 
migration.  The  number  of  Jews  in  Jerusalem  increased 
so  largely  that  the  place  of  the  one  congregation  pre- 
viously existing  was  taken  by  four.  The  community 
also  rose  appreciably  in  self-respect  and  in  status,  and 
under  the  guidanee  of  the  saintly  scholar,  Obadiah  of 
Bertinoro,  who  had  settled  in  Jerusalem  some  years 
earlier,  secured  again  a  considerable  influence  over  the 
Jews  of  the  East.  The  same  cause  made  Safed  almost 
as  important  a  Jewish  centre  as  Jerusalem.  Spanish 
immigrants  raised  its  Jewish  population  to  10,000,  over 
whom  Joseph  Saragossi  held  a  position  similar  to  that  of 
Obadiah  at  Jerusalem.  So  widely  recognized  was  the 
value  of  the  influence  of  these  two  men  that  Mohamme- 
dans vied  with  Jews  in  showing  them  honour ;  and  when 
there  was  a  fear  that  Saragossi  was  about  to  leave  Safed, 
the  governor  of  the  town  made  every  effort  to  persuade 
him  to  remain.  In  Damascus  also  the  Jewish  population 
became  sufficiently  considerable  to  justify  the  formation 
of  several  congregations. 

The  year  1516  witnessed  the  beginning  of  the  last 
period  of  the  history  of  this  country  which  had  under- 
gone so  many  vicissitudes  and  had  obeyed  so  many 
masters.  The  final  struggle  between  Asia  as  represented 
by  the  Ottoman  Turks,  and  Egypt,  which  was  still  under 
the  Mameluke  dynasty,  had  been  long  impending.  The 
Sultan  of  Egypt  was  defeated  and  killed  in  battle  by  the 


The  Turkish  Dominion  41 

Turks  in  August,  1515,  and  the  following  year  Syria 
became  a  portion  of  the  Turkish  dominions.  On  the 
20th  of  January,  1517,  Cairo  was  taken,  and  within  a 
short  time  the  Ottoman  Sultan  Selim  became  Sultan  of 
Egypt,  and  the  African  empire  was  incorporated  in  the 
dominions  of  the  Turks.  So  far  as  the  people  of  Pales- 
tine were  concerned,  the  change  of  rulers  made  little 
difference.  The  system  of  government  remained  as 
before,  and  almost  the  only  change  was  that  the  product 
of  the  taxes  went  to  Constantinople  instead  of  to  Cairo. 
After  some  years,  however,  Suleiman  the  Magnificent 
erected  a  series  of  important  buildings  in  Jerusalem.  In 
1537  the  walls  which  still  stand  were  raised.  At  the  same 
time  the  Tower  of  David  was  restored  and  a  system  of 
water-supply  for  the  city  completed.  Suleiman  ac- 
corded his  Jewish  subjects  full  liberty,  and  they  were 
free  to  engage  in  any  occupation  they  wished.  The 
tolerant  attitude  of  Suleiman  was  duly  appreciated  in 
contemporary  Jewish  writings.  The  numbers  of  the 
Jews  in  the  city  increased,  and  many  merchants  of 
relative  wealth,  from  Italy  in  particular,  as  well  as 
scholars  of  distinction,  settled  there.  Among  the  trades 
followed  by  the  Jews  of  Jerusalem  at  this  time,  those  of 
goldsmith,  silversmith,  weaver,  and  shoemaker  predom- 
inated. A  considerable  number  of  the  inhabitants 
traded  among  the  neighbouring  villages,  making  the  city 
their  headquarters.  The  settlement  of  Joseph  Caro,  the 
renowned  Jewish  jurist,  at  Safed  about  the  same  time 
made  that  city  the  intellectual  centre  of  Jewry.  He 
died  there  in  1575.  In  1538  an  attempt  was  even  made 
to  re-establish  the  Synhedrin  at  Safed,  but  Jewry  was 
not  then  ripe,  nor  is  it  yet,  for  so  great  a  step  towards 
national  rehabilitation.     Safed  had  for  very  many  years 


42  Palestine 

been  a  centre  of  cabbalistic  learning,  the  Jewish  mystical 
philosophy.  It  was  but  natural,  therefore,  that  a  mystic 
like  Solomon  Molcho,  who  afterwards  loomed  so  large  in 
European  Jewish  history,  should  visit  the  city  in  order 
to  reinvigorate  himself.  Isaac  Luria,  the  founder  of  the 
modern  Cabbala,  also  made  that  city  his  headquarters, 
and  created  a  school  at  the  head  of  which  he  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  disciple  Hayyim  Vital  Calabrese.  Earlier 
than  that  period,  in  1567,  there  was  a  considerable 
migration  of  Jews  from  Jerusalem  to  Safed  on  account  of 
the  heavy  taxation  inflicted  on  them  by  the  Turks. 

Suleiman  the  Magnificent,  the  greatest  of  the  Sultans, 
stands  out  in  Jewish  history  as  the  protector  of  the  Jews 
of  Europe  against  their  persecutors.  It  was  he  who  was 
able  to  compel  the  Pope,  the  Republic  of  Venice,  and  the 
other  rulers  of  Italy,  to  withdraw  the  hand  which  had 
already  been  stretched  forth  to  light  the  faggot  of  the 
Inquisition  fires.  During  his  reign  Turkey  became  the 
land  of  refuge  for  the  hunted  fugitives  from  European 
cruelty.  The  number  of  Jews  who  settled  in  Salonica 
made  that  port  almost  a  Jewish  city,  and  incidentally 
raised  it  to  the  pinnacle  of  commercial  prosperity,  a 
position  which  it  retained  so  long  as  the  Crescent  waved 
above  it.  Other  benefits,  also,  Suleiman  and  his  empire 
derived  from  the  humane  attitude  he  adopted  towards 
the  Jews.  Above  all  was  the  wise  and  statesmanlike 
advice  offered  to  him  and  accepted  from  the  Spanish 
refugee  Joseph  Nasi,  a  prince  among  philanthropists  and 
merchants,  who  with  his  relatives  had  taken  refuge  in 
Constantinople  to  avoid  the  oppression  and  greed  of  half 
of  the  Sovereigns  of  Europe.  Nasi's  services  to  the 
State  were  rewarded  by  Suleiman,  and  by  his  successor 
Selim,  with  many  great  dignities.     By  the  former  he 


The  Turkish  Dominion 


was  presented  with  the  town  and  district  of  Tiberias  in 
order  that  he  might  settle  Jews  there.  To  increase  the 
security  of  the  grant  Suleiman  obtained  the  agreement 
of  his  heir  and  of  his  heir 's  heir  to  it.  Nasi,  assisted  by 
his  aunt,  Donna  Gracia  Mendes,  the  modern  Esther,  and 
aided  by  a  State  subvention,  devoted  a  fortune  to  the 
enterprise.  He  had  the  walls  of  Tiberias  rebuilt  despite 
great  difficulties  with  the  Arab  workmen,  who  were 
taught  by  a  sheikh  that  the  raising  of  the  walls  of  the 
city  would  mean  the  universal  dominion  of  Judaism. 
He  invited  the  persecuted  Jews  of  Italy  to  settle  in  his 
domain,  and  large  numbers  left  Italy  for  that  purpose, 
especially  on  the  expulsion  of  the  Jews  from  the  Papal 
States.  In  the  spirit  of  true  statesmanship  Nasi  encour- 
aged agriculturists  and  artisans  to  settle.  He  planted 
mulberry-trees  for  the  breeding  of  silkworms,  and  intro- 
duced the  manufacture  of  wool  and  silk.  Nasi 's  energies 
were,  however,  after  a  time  directed  to  other  channels — 
to  Naxos  and  other  islands  of  which  he  was  made  Duke, 
and  to  Cyprus,  of  which  he  had  some  expectation  of 
becoming  King — and  the  promising  experiment  of 
Tiberias  sank  into  oblivion. 

Of  the  history  of  Palestine  during  the  succeeding  two 
centuries  there  is  very  little  to  record.  The  local  gov- 
ernment sank  gradually  into  a  condition  of  neglect  and 
corruption,  and  the  people  of  all  races  and  religions 
suffered  accordingly.  During  the  first  decades  of  the 
seventeenth  century  the  Druse  Prince  Fakhr  ud-Din, 
who  had  in  Italy  acquired  a  veneer  of  European  culture, 
seized  the  coast  as  far  south  as  Acre,  and  held  it  despite 
the  efforts  of  the  Turks  to  dislodge  him. 

Oppression  and  poverty  had  by  then  reduced  the 
Jews  to  a  level  from  which  it  took  centuries  to  raise  them. 


44  Palestine 

The  principal  means  of  existence  was  the  alms  which  the 
pious  Jews  of  Europe  were  accustomed  to  send  to  their 
co-religionists  in  the  Holy  City,  who  were  expected  in 
return  to  devote  themselves  to  prayer  and  to  study. 
Thus  grew  up  a  dependent  population  whose  spiritual 
descendants  even  to-day  form  a  large  proportion  of  the 
Jewish  inhabitants  of  the  city. 

The  seventeenth  century  was  unfortunately  a  period 
of  massacre  and  spoliation  for  the  Jews  of  Poland,  in 
which  kingdom  the  greater  part  of  the  Jews  of  Europe 
had  taken  refuge  from  similar  treatment  in  the  south 
and  the  west  of  Europe.  The  sufferings  of  the  Jews 
of  Poland  reacted  in  Jerusalem  in  the  cessation  of  the 
customary  revenues.  In  this  manner  the  atrocities 
committed  by  Chmielnicki  and  his  Cossacks  led  directly 
to  the  starvation  of  the  Jews  of  Jerusalem.  In  the  midst 
of  all  these  troubles  came  one  of  the  periods  of  fiscal 
oppression  by  the  uncontrolled  Pasha  of  Jerusalem.  In 
their  dire  distress  the  wretched  victims  looked  to  their 
co-religionists  abroad  for  assistance;  and  Sabbathai 
Zevi,  the  most  famous  of  the  pseudo-Messiahs  who  in  the 
course  of  nineteen  hundred  years  brought  misfortune  on 
Jewry,  being  then  a  resident  of  Jerusalem,  was  sent  to 
Egypt  to  obtain  it.  For  a  few  months  after  his  return 
from  Egypt,  Jerusalem  was  the  scene  of  the  exploits  of 
this  most  romantic  figure,  and  in  consequence  the  city 
gained  a  fame  or  notoriety  to  which  it  had  long  been  a 
stranger.  On  the  departure  of  Sabbathai,  however, 
Jerusalem  sank  again  into  oblivion.  By  the  year  1690 
the  Sabbathaian  movement  had  been  quite  forgotten  so 
far  as  Palestine  was  concerned.  In  that  year  there  was 
a  considerable  settlement  of  ultra-pious  Polish  Jews, 
Chassidim,  from  Galicia  in  Jerusalem.     They  brought 


The  Turkish  Dominion  45 

no  wealth  with  them,  and  increased  the  material  poverty 
of  the  community,  but  one  benefit  that  was  due  to  the 
immigration  was  the  sympathetic  interest  in  the  condi- 
tion of  the  Jews  of  the  city  shown  henceforth  by  the 
Austrian  Government.  By  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century  the  population  of  the  city  amounted  to  more 
than  ten  thousand,  one-tenth  of  whom  were  Jews.  The 
latter  had  at  least  twelve  colleges,  the  majority  of  which 
were  supported  or  had  been  endowed  by  pious  Israelites 
in  Europe.  In  the  meanwhile  Safed,  which  had  hitherto 
been  the  principal  Jewish  centre  in  Palestine,  had 
declined  in  importtance.  It  suffered  much  from  the 
plague  in  1742,  and  from  the  earthquake  of  twenty-seven 
years  later.  The  latter  misfortune  led  to  the  emigra- 
tion of  practically  all  the  survivors  to  Damascus  and 
other  cities,  so  that  of  the  ten  thousand  Jews  who  were 
to  be  found  in  Safed  two  and  a  half  centuries  earlier,  only 
seven  families  remained.  Within  a  very  few  years, 
however,  there  was  a  new  immigration  of  Russian  Jews, 
who  lived  under  the  protection  of  the  Russian  and  Aus- 
trian Governments,  and  henceforth  Safed  remained  one 
of  the  few  important  Jewish  centres  in  Palestine. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY 

The  eighteenth  century,  although  far  advanced,  was  still 
to  witness  several  more  invasions  of  Palestine  from 
Egypt.  The  first  of  these  commenced  in  1771,  when 
Ali  Bey,  having  made  himself  independent,  sent  a  force 
into  Syria  in  order  to  incorporate  that  province  in  his 
dominions.  His  General,  Abu'l  Dhabab,  was  joined  by 
Zahir,  the  Governor  of  Acre,  and  with  his  assistance  suc- 
ceeded easily  in  taking  the  chief  cities,  including  Damas- 
cus. At  this  point  he  transferred  his  allegiance  from 
Ali  to  the  Sultan,  and  proceeded  to  invade  Egypt  in  the 
interest  of  the  latter  potentate.  His  example  was  fol- 
lowed by  others  of  Ali's  Generals,  and  it  was  not  long 
before  the  latter  was  a  fugitive  at  Acre  dependent  on  the 
protection  of  his  friend,  Zahir.  At  Acre  he  received 
assistance  in  men  and  stores  from  Russia,  always  anxious 
to  harm  the  Turks,  and  was  able  to  recover  several  of  the 
coast  towns  which  had  been  temporarily  conquered  for 
him  the  previous  year.  Of  these  he  gave  Jaffa  to  Zahir. 
Ali  was,  however,  soon  defeated  in  battle  after  he  had 
again  been  deserted  by  those  on  whom  he  depended,  and 
Syria  with  Egypt  resumed  its  former  position  in  the 
Turkish  Empire.  The  punishment  of  Zahir,  however, 
remained  to  be  inflicted,  and  a  force,  by  which  Palestine 
was  again  overrun,  was  sent  from  Egypt  for  that  pur- 
pose.    Still  later  in  the  century  Acre  was  under  the 

46 


The  Nineteenth  Century  47 

beneficent  government  of  Dhaher  el  Amir,  a  local  sheikh. 
Among  the  refugees  whom  he  protected  was  an  Albanian 
slave,  Ahmed  el  Jazzar,  who  had  fled  from  Egypt.  After 
a  few  years  El  Jazzar  returned  to  Egypt,  and  when 
shortly  afterwards  Dhaher  revolted  against  Turkey,  his 
knowledge  of  local  conditions  was  utilized,  and  he  was 
sent  to  Acre  to  suppress  the  revolt.  In  this  he  was 
entirely  successful,  and  as  a  reward  was  appointed  gov- 
ernor in  the  room  of  his  opponent  and  former  host. 
El  Jazzar 's  rule  at  Acre  was  noteworthy  for  considerable 
building  activity,  but  he  also  justified  his  surname  of 
El  Jazzar,  or  the  Butcher.  Among  his  other  exploits 
was  the  expulsion  in  1791  of  the  colony  of  French  mer- 
chants which  had  been  settled  at  the  port  for  more  than 
a  century. 

In  1798  Egypt  was  invaded  by  Napoleon,  ostensibly 
in  the  interests  of  Turkey,  and  was  conquered  within 
six  months.  Turkey,  however,  did  not  agree  that  her 
interests  required  a  French  invasion,  and  she  sent  expedi- 
tions by  sea  and  by  land  to  recover  the  country.  The 
latter  was  to  have  followed  the  customary  route  through 
Palestine,  but  Napoleon,  determining  to  forestall  it, 
himself  crossed  the  Desert  of  El  Arish  and  invaded 
Palestine.  He  easily  took  El  Arish,  Gaza,  and  Jaffa,  at 
which  latter  town  he  massacred  his  prisoners.  Continu- 
ing his  march  along  the  coast,  he  took  one  town  after 
another,  until  he  arrived  at  Acre,  where  he  halted. 
Sending  forces  inland,  he  defeated  the  Arabs  and  took 
Nazareth  and  Tiberias.  In  the  meanwhile  the  news  of 
Napoleon's  advance  and  his  cruelties  drove  the  popula- 
tion, Jewish  and  non-Jewish,  before  him.  The  inhab- 
itants of  Jerusalem  were  filled  with  consternation.  That 
city  was  thought  to  be  the  invader's  objective.    Meas- 


48  Palestine 

ures  were  immediately  taken  to  fortify  the  city,  and  Jew 
and  non-Jew,  Rabbi  and  layman,  vied  with  one  another 
in  assisting  in  the  raising  of  ramparts.  Napoleon  on  his 
part  issued  a  proclamation  promising  to  present  the  Holy 
Land  to  the  Jews  and  to  restore  the  glories  of  Jerusalem, 
and  calling  on  the  Jews  of  Asia  and  Africa  to  join  his 
forces.  But  the  Jews  distrusted  the  conqueror,  and 
there  was  no  response  to  the  invitation.  In  the  mean- 
while Napoleon  was  laying  siege  to  Acre,  which  was  still 
in  the  hands  of  El  Jazzar,  whose  Jewish  Minister  Farchi 
was  the  soul  of  the  defence.  Its  body  was,  however,  the 
British  forces  under  Sir  W.  Sidney  Smith,  which  were 
hastily  thrown  into  the  town  and  succeeded  in  compelling 
Napoleon  after  an  ineffectual  siege  of  two  months  to 
withdraw  from  this  originally  half -ruined  fortress.  The 
failure  at  Acre  was  the  end  of  the  Syrian  campaign  and 
the  beginning  of  the  end  of  the  French  occupation  of 
Egypt. 

Meanwhile  the  misfortunes  of  Safed,  which  had  already 
been  of  long  duration,  continued.  At  the  beginning  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  the  plague  that  was  prevalent 
there  caused  a  further  emigration  and  led  indirectly  to 
an  increase  of  the  Jewish  population  of  Jerusalem.  In 
1812  four-fifths  of  the  remaining  Jewish  population  are 
said  to  have  died  of  the  same  disease.  Seven  years  later 
the  survivors  received  the  unwelcome  attentions  of  the 
governor  of  Acre,  a  grandson  of  El  Jazzar,  who  was  noted 
for  his  rapacity  and  cruelty.  The  Jews  were  all  im- 
prisoned and  held  to  ransom.  The  following  year  he 
murdered  the  Jewish  Minister  of  his  grandfather,  who 
had  inspired  the  defence  of  Acre  against  Napoleon. 
This  crime  led  indirectly  to  the  occupation  of  the  whole 
country  by  Mehemet  Ali,  in  1831.     The  six  preceding 


The  Nineteenth  Century  49 

years  were  a  period  of  great  civil  and  political  dis- 
turbance, harmful  to  the  interest  of  all  the  inhabitants 
without  distinction  of  race  or  creed.  Great  distress  pre- 
vailed, and  messengers  begging  for  assistance  were  sent 
as  far  as  the  United  States.  Nevertheless,  throughout 
this  period  the  immigration  of  pious  Jews,  mostly 
settlers  desirous  of  spending  their  few  remaining  years 
on  holy  soil,  continued.  They  came  for  the  most  part 
from  Austria  and  Russia,  which  two  empires  had  now, 
in  conjunction  with  Prussia,  absorbed  the  remainder  of 
the  Polish  dominions.  These  settlers  were,  however,  not 
deserted  by  their  Governments.  Austria  sent  a  repre- 
sentative to  Jerusalem  to  look  after  their  interests,  and 
both  the  Austrian  and  the  Russian  Governments  re- 
peatedly brought  pressure  to  bear  in  Jerusalem  on  behalf 
of  their  nationals.  The  year  1827  was  marked  by  the 
first  of  the  several  visits  paid  by  the  great  Anglo-Jewish 
philanthropist,  Sir  Moses  Montefiore. 

While  these  events  were  happening  among  the  Jewish 
communities  of  Palestine,  the  relations  between  Mehemet 
Ali,  the  Pasha  of  Egypt,  and  his  master  the  Sultan,  were 
becoming  strained  to  breaking-point.  The  former  had 
been  promised  Palestine  and  Syria  as  the  price  of  his 
assistance  against  the  Greek  rebels,  if  the  rebellion  were 
suppressed.  The  intervention  of  the  Powers  had,  how- 
ever, taken  the  decision  in  the  matter  of  the  rebellion  out 
of  the  hands  of  both  Mehemet  and  the  Sultan.  It  is 
doubtful  whether  Mehemet  really  considered  that  he  had 
any  claim  to  these  provinces,  but  the  growing  certainty 
that  the  Sultan  would  sooner  or  later  make  war  upon  him 
made  the  necessity  for  a  previous  casus  belli  against  Con- 
stantinople urgent.  It  was  found  in  the  claim  for  Syria 
and  Palestine,  fortified  by  some  minor  matters  of  less  con- 


50  Palestine 

sequence.  These  were  the  circumstances  that  led  in  1831 
to  yet  another  invasion  of  Palestine  from  Egypt.  Me- 
hemet  's  progress  was  at  first  unopposed.  He  was  met  at 
Jaffa  by  his  fleet  and  without  difficulty  occupied  not  only 
the  coast  towns,  but  also  the  remainder  of  the  country. 
Acre  hindered  the  army  for  a  moment,  but  was  stormed 
and  sacked.  The  further  progress  of  the  army  was  then 
uninterrupted,  and  within  a  few  days  over  six  months 
from  the  crossing  of  the  Palestine-Egyptian  frontier, 
Damascus  was  reached  and  taken.  The  explanation  of 
Mehemet's  rapid  progress  was  the  welcome  given  him  by 
the  population.  His  army  met  with  no  further  opposi- 
tion until  it  reached  Horns.  There,  and  again  at  Hamah 
and  at  Beilan,  the  Turkish  forces  were  defeated ;  and  the 
Egyptian  incursion  did  not  come  to  a  standstill  until  the 
banner  of  Mehemet  Ali  had  been  carried  well  into  Asia 
Minor.  Then  the  Powers  intervened.  The  threat  of 
Russian  interference,  nominally  in  the  interests  of  Tur- 
key, brought  Britain  and  France  into  the  negotiations, 
and  they  practically  compelled  the  Sultan  to  cede  Syria, 
Aleppo,  Damascus,  and  also  Adana  in  Asia  Minor,  to 
Mehemet  and  his  son. 

The  rule  of  Mehemet  in  Syria  was  not  successful. 
The  reforms  in  the  government  which  he  introduced 
proved  so  unpopular  as  to  lead  to  a  revolt  in  1834,  which 
Mehemet  suppressed  only  with  difficulty.  The  outbreak 
of  the  rebellion  was  the  signal  for  the  turbulent  Druses 
of  the  Lebanon  to  swoop  down  upon  Safed  and  to  sack 
the  Jewish  quarter.  Whatever  property  escaped  from 
the  first  attack  succumbed  to  a  second  one  which  fol- 
lowed shortly  afterwards.  The  bandits  did  not,  however, 
remain  unpunished,  for  when  Ibrahim,  Mehemet's  son, 
arrived  he  imposed  an  indemnity  on  the  surrounding 


The  Nineteenth  Century  51 

villages,  and  devoted  it  to  making  good  in  part  the  losses 
of  the  Jews.  The  suppression  of  the  revolt  of  1834  did 
not  settle  the  difficulties  of  Mehemet  in  Syria,  for  the 
Powers,  with  the  exception  of  France,  were  opposed  to 
his  retention  of  the  Asiatic  provinces.  But  a  premature 
attempt  by  Turkey  to  oust  him  failed,  and  when  the 
Sultan  subsequently  offered  him  a  portion  of  Syria  for 
life,  relying  on  French  support  he  declined  the  compro- 
mise. Ultimately  the  Powers  grew  tired  of  the  pro- 
tracted negotiations.  In  September,  1840,  the  fleets  of 
Britain,  Austria,  and  Russia,  under  Sir  Charles  Napier, 
bombarded  Beyrout,  and  an  accompanying  Turkish  force 
took  the  town.  Simultaneously  the  population  of  Syria 
rose  again  in  rebellion.  Exactly  a  month  after  the  fall 
of  Beyrout  a  similar  fate  overtook  Acre,  and  Mehemet 
Ali's  empire  in  Syria  was  at  an  end.  The  previous  year 
Great  Britain  had  appointed  a  Consul  to  Jerusalem, 
thus  being  the  first  Power  to  do  so.  The  other  Powers 
soon  appointed  Consuls  also,  and  contemporaneously  the 
Turkish  Government  strengthened  its  hold  on  the  coun- 
try at  the  expense  of  the  hitherto  semi-independent 
sheikhs. 

It  was  fortunate  for  the  Jews  that  the  European 
Powers  had  their  representatives  in  Syria  at  this  time, 
for  the  year  1840  was  stained  by  one  of  those  terrible 
anti-Jewish  campaigns  which  have  sprinkled  the  history 
of  civilization  with  blood.  Mehemet  Ali  was  still  in 
control  of  Syria  when  the  disappearance  of  a  Capuchin 
friar  at  Damascus,  which  then  had  a  large  Jewish  popu- 
lation, was  used  by  his  fellow-monks  to  revive  the  ter- 
rible charge  of  ritual  murder  against  the  Jews  of  the 
city.  In  this  campaign  they  were  ably  assisted  by  Ratti 
Menton,  an  Italian  adventurer  and  renegade  to  Moham- 


52  Palestine 

medanism  who  was  the  representative  of  France  in  the 
city.  France  was  at  this  time  the  only  friend  that 
Mehemet  possessed.  The  influence  of  her  representative 
with  the  local  government  was  therefore  supreme.  The 
governor  of  Damascus  found  it  politic  to  support  the 
charge,  all  the  more  because  the  murderer  was  known  to 
be  a  Moslem,  and  an  anti-Jewish  campaign  was  soon 
in  full  course  among  the  local  Christians  and  Moslems. 
The  leading  Jews  of  the  city  were  arrested  and  put  to 
the  torture.  Even  children  of  three  and  four  were  taken 
from  their  parents  and  subjected  to  starvation  so  that 
their  agonies  might  induce  their  mothers  to  denounce 
their  kinsmen  as  guilty  of  a  crime  which  had  not  been 
committed.  The  other  Consuls  allowed  these  proceed- 
ings to  continue  without  heeding  them  until  the  repre- 
sentative of  Austria  was  forced  to  intervene  by  the  ar- 
rest and  threatened  torture  of  an  Austrian  subject.  The 
Christians  of  Damascus  in  their  attacks  on  the  Jews 
were  joined  by  their  co-religionists  throughout  the  Turk- 
ish Empire.  At  Rhodes  also  the  charge  of  ritual  murder 
was  brought  against  the  local  Jewish  community,  mem- 
bers of  which  were  put  to  the  torture.  In  many  cities 
the  Jews  were  attacked :  in  all  they  and  their  faith  were 
slandered. 

Reports  of  the  proceedings  in  the  East  soon  spread  to 
Europe,  at  first  under  the  false  colours  given  to  them  by 
Ratti  Menton,  but  the  truth  in  time  became  known 
through  other  sources,  and  sympathy  began  to  be  roused 
for  the  unfortunate  Jews  of  Damascus.  The  Jews  of 
England  and  France  appealed  to  their  Governments. 
The  latter,  although  it  offered  fair  words,  took  no  steps 
to  repress  the  criminal  zeal  of  its  representative.  Palm- 
erston,  on  the  other  hand,  took  a  far  more  active  line. 


The  Nineteenth  Century  53 

He  sent  out  instructions  to  the  British  representatives 
at  Constantinople  and  Alexandria  to  use  every  effort  to 
bring  the  cruelties  to  an  end.  Metternich  at  Vienna,  on 
his  own  initiative,  took  a  similar  line.  The  light  of  pub- 
licity was  being  turned  on  the  atrocities  of  Damascus. 
So  far  as  the  Rhodes  accusation  was  concerned  a  formal 
trial  was  held,  as  a  consequence  of  which  the  tables  were 
turned  on  the  Greek  accusers,  who  were  found  guilty  of 
bringing  forward  baseless  charges  against  their  Jewish 
fellow-citizens. 

The  Damascus  affair  was  more  difficult  of  treatment, 
for  Mehemet  was  in  control  there.  Any  steps  towards 
justice  which  he  might  have  taken  spontaneously  were 
stopped  by  the  influence  of  the  French  Consul-General, 
who  was  determined  to  support  through  thick  and  thin 
his  subordinate  at  Damascus.  The  Austrian  Consul, 
acting  on  instruction  from  Vienna,  was,  however,  im- 
portunate, and  he  ultimately  succeeded  in  getting  the 
charge  against  the  Jews  remitted  to  a  court  composed  of 
the  British,  Austrian,  Russian,  and  Prussian  Consuls 
at  Alexandria.  But  France  was  still  zealous  on  behalf 
of  her  Consul,  and  succeeded  in  getting  Mehemet  to 
withdraw  his  commission.  Europe  thus  became  divided 
into  two  camps,  and  in  particular  all  the  forces  of 
clericalism  were  mobilized  in  the  Latin  countries  in 
order  to  fasten  the  hateful  Blood  Accusation  around  the 
neck  of  Jewry.  The  Jews  of  France,  hopeless  of  obtain- 
ing justice  from  their  own  Government,  then  determined 
to  send  their  own  representative  to  Alexandria  to  plead 
with  Mehemet  Ali.  Their  choice  fell  upon  the  orator 
and  statesman  Adolphe  Cremieux,  and  with  him  went 
Sir  Moses  Montefiore  as  the  representative  of  the  Jews 
of  England.    In  the  House  of  Commons,   Sir  Robert 


54  Palestine 

Peel,  the  leader  of  the  Opposition,  pleaded  the  cause  of 
the  persecuted  Jews,  and  Palmerston,  the  Foreign  Secre- 
tary, warmly  supported  him.  At  the  same  time  the 
Lord  Mayor  of  London  convened  a  meeting  in  order  to 
protest  against  the  charge  that  had  been  brought  against 
the  Jews  of  Damascus,  and  through  them  against  the 
entire  Jewish  people.  In  Egypt  the  deputation  ob- 
tained the  hearty  support  of  the  British  Consul-General 
and  the  undisguised  opposition  of  his  French  colleague. 
Mehemet  himself  temporized.  His  fate,  not  only  in 
Syria  but  in  Egypt  also,  was  in  the  balance,  and  he  was 
naturally  very  anxious  not  to  offend  either  party.  Ulti- 
mately he  gave  way  to  the  combined  pressure  of  all  the 
Powers  excepting  France,  and  those  of  the  imprisoned 
Jews  of  Damascus  who  had  not  died  of  the  cruelties  per- 
petrated upon  them  were  released. 

One  of  the  immediate  consequences  of  the  Damascus 
affair  was  the  issue  by  Palmerston  of  instructions  to  all 
the  British  representatives  in  the  Levant  and  Syria, 
placing  the  Jews  under  their  special  protection  and  in- 
forming them  that  so  far  as  non-British  subjects  were 
concerned  the  Turkish  Government  desired  their  atten- 
tion to  be  directed  to  any  case  of  oppression,  and  had 
promised  the  British  Ambassador  that  ' '  it  will  attend  to 
any  representation  which  may  be  made  to  it  by  the  Em- 
bassy, of  any  act  of  oppression  practised  against  the 
Jews. ' '  The  services  of  the  British  Consul  at  Jerusalem 
were  required  in  this  connection  on  several  occasions, 
notably  on  one  in  1847,  when  he  was  instrumental  in 
suppressing  in  its  first  stage  a  revival  by  the  Greek 
priests  and  pilgrims  of  the  terrible  Blood  Accusation. 
On  another  occasion  a  Kussian  Jew,  recently  arrived 
from  Europe,  and  unacquainted  with  the  local  customs, 


The  Nineteenth  Century  55 

was  almost  murdered  by  Christian  pilgrims  for  having 
passed  too  close  to  the  Church.  Although  he  was  not  a 
British  subject,  the  Consul  intervened  on  his  behalf;  but 
the  Greek  ecclesiastics  claimed  in  their  defence  that  if 
they  had  killed  the  man  the  penalty  for  which  they 
would  have  been  liable  would  have  been  a  fine  of  ten 
paras  (a  halfpenny).  As  a  consequence  of  this  and 
similar  incidents  the  British  Government  issued  specific 
instructions  to  the  British  Consul  to  undertake  the  pro- 
tection of  foreign  Jews  whose  own  Consuls  refused  to 
act  for  them.  There  had  by  this  time  been  a  consider- 
able influx  of  Russian  Jews  into  Palestine,  and  their  own 
Government,  not  caring  to  be  troubled  with  their  affairs, 
declined  all  responsibility  for  them,  but  told  them  when 
in  need  of  advice  and  of  assistance  to  apply  to  the  Brit- 
ish Consul.  The  Jews  themselves  were  overcome  with 
joy  at  the  change  of  protector. 

It  was  during  the  consulate  of  James  Finn,  who  had 
shown  himself  especially  sympathetic  to  the  Jews,  that 
the  Anglican  bishopric  was  founded.  It  was  estab- 
lished by  the  Queen  of  England  and  the  King  of  Prussia 
jointly,  and  the  original  arrangement  was  that  the  nomi- 
nation of  the  Bishop  should  fall  to  each  alternately. 
The  first  Anglican  Bishop,  who  entered  on  his  office  in 
1841,  was  Michael  Solomon  Alexander,  a  convert  from 
Judaism.  The  Protestants  were  looked  at  askance  by 
both  the  Greeks  and  the  Latins,  and  were  occasionally 
the  object  of  attack  by  them.  The  hostility  shown  to- 
wards the  Protestants  was,  however,  insignificant  com- 
pared with  the  hatred  which  the  Latins  and  the  Greeks 
had  and  still  have  for  one  another.  The  jealousy  be- 
tween the  two  communions  in  Palestine  is  as  old  as  the 
Secession.     It  showed  itself  repeatedly  during  the  period 


5G  Palestine 

of  the  Crusades  and  the  Latin  kingdom,  although  the 
Latins  had  then  definitely  the  upper  hand.  The  quar- 
rels ranged  especially  around  the  Holy  Places,  and  much 
of  the  violence  that  one  party  did  to  the  other  took  place 
within  the  sacred  precincts  themselves.  The  Christian 
Holy  Places,  which  were  definitely  given  over  to  the 
Christians,  always  needed  the  safeguard  of  a  neutral 
Power  in  order  that  outrage  and  violence  might  be  pre- 
vented there.  Thus  the  Turkish  Government,  undesir- 
ous  of  interfering  between  Christian  and  Christian,  was 
yet  compelled  by  circumstances  not  only  to  adjudicate 
between  them,  but  often  to  station  an  armed  guard  even 
within  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  In  1620  the 
Sultan  had  formally  granted  to  the  King  of  France  the 
protection  of  all  Christians,  French  or  stranger,  in  Pal- 
estine, and  Roman  Catholic  ecclesiastics  were  guaranteed 
certain  rights  in  the  Holy  Places.  These  rights  were 
confirmed  by  a  later  Sultan  in  1740.  During  the  suc- 
ceeding half -century  the  numbers  and  influence  of  the 
Orthodox  Greeks  in  Palestine,  supported  by  Russia, 
grew  year  by  year,  and  while  France  was,  so  far  as  this 
question  was  concerned,  in  a  state  of  lethargy,  the 
Greeks  staked  out  claims,  both  material  and  moral,  for 
themselves.  No  serious  movement  was  made  by  France 
until  the  time  of  Napoleon  III.,  but  his  Government 
made  a  formal  demand  for  the  restoration  of  all  the 
rights  and  privileges  of  which  the  Latins  had  gradually 
been  deprived.  The  negotiations  which  proceeded  out 
of  this  demand  culminated  in  the  Crimean  War. 

The  negotiations  at  Constantinople  had  been  accom- 
panied and  preceded  in  Palestine  by  a  tireless  struggle 
between  the  supporters  of  the  two  parties.  In  1847  the 
Latin  world  had  been  scandalized  by  the  theft  by  the 


The  Nineteenth  Century  57 

Greeks  of  the  Holy  Star  from  the  Church  at  Bethlehem, 
which,  since  it  bore  a  Latin  inscription,  was  anathema 
to  them.  Previous  to  the  theft  the  church  had  been 
the  scene  of  a  fight  between  the  two  parties.  During 
the  night  the  Greek  monks  had  built  a  wall  inside  the 
church  which  deprived  the  Latins  of  access  to  the  sanc- 
tuary. The  Latins,  when  they  found  the  obstruction  in 
the  morning,  proceeded  to  demolish  it,  whereupon  the 
Greeks  attacked  them.  At  Jerusalem,  on  another  occa- 
sion, each  party  had  proceeded  piecemeal  to  strip  the 
dome  of  the  Church  of  its  lead,  so  that  the  right  to  re- 
pair it,  and  thus  to  obtain  a  claim  to  the  sacred  edifice, 
might  be  secured.  While  these  rival  claims  were  being 
pressed  the  edifice  itself  suffered  severely  from  the  pene- 
tration of  the  rain,  but  it  was  not  the  welfare  of  the 
building  that  was  the  consideration  of  the  litigants. 
Ultimately,  in  order  to  preserve  the  uneasy  status  quo, 
the  Sultan  had  the  damage  repaired  at  his  own  expense, 
and  thus  neither  party  gained  the  prize.  At  one  time, 
in  1848,  when  the  Pope  was  an  exile  from  Rome,  there 
was  a  project  to  make  Jerusalem  the  Papal  capital. 
Fortunately  or  unfortunately,  the  proposal  was  not 
adopted.  The  French  protectorate  over  all  the  Roman 
Catholics  in  the  East  continued  until  1901,  when  one  of 
the  numerous  affrays  between  the  rival  communities  in 
the  Church  led  to  investigations,  one  consequence  of 
which  was  that  henceforth  the  Consuls  took  charge  of 
the  interests  of  their  own  nationals,  and  French  subjects 
only  were  left  to  France. 

After  the  close  of  the  Crimean  War  there  was  a  con- 
siderable influx  of  Christian  visitors  to  Jerusalem,  and 
as  a  consequence  a  number  of  churches  were  erected 
and    the    permanent    Christian    population    increased. 


58  Palestine 

The  first  Christian  missionaries  to  settle  in  the  city 
were  the  American,  who  came  in  1821,  followed  five 
years  later  by  English  fellow-workers.  In  1845  the  seat 
of  the  Greek  Orthodox  Patriarch  was  removed  from 
Greece  to  Jerusalem,  and  in  1847,  as  a  counter-stroke, 
the  Latin  patriarchate  was  reorganized.  The  year  1849 
saw  the  foundation  of  the  Jerusalem  Literary  and  Sci- 
entific Society,  out  of  which  developed  the  English  Pal- 
estine Exploration  Fund. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  GROWTH  OF  THE  TOWNS 

By  no  means  can  the  change  which  has  come  over  Pales- 
tine— the  country  and  the  people — during  the  course  of 
barely  more  than  the  span  of  one  generation,  a  change 
which  justifies  the  use  of  the  title  "The  Rebirth  of 
Palestine,"  be  better  illustrated  than  by  a  comparison 
between  the  numbers  of  the  Jewish  inhabitants  and  their 
relative  importance  at  intervals  during  the  past  century. 
The  figures  on  which  such  comparisons  can  be  based  are, 
of  course,  not  absolutely  correct.  They  are  estimates 
whose  reliability  varies  with  the  source  from  which  they 
come.  It  has  never  been  possible  accurately  to  ascer- 
tain the  numbers  of  any  section  of  the  population  of 
Palestine.  Even  to-day  there  is  a  wide  diversity  be- 
tween current  estimates  of  the  Jewish  population  even 
of  Jerusalem.  However,  for  the  present  purpose  the 
estimates  of  men  of  some  reliability  only  have  been 
taken  into  consideration,  and  one  is  justified  in  accept- 
ing the  figures  if  not  as  literally,  certainly  as  generally, 
correct.  To  facilitate  comparison,  the  present 1  Jewish 
population  of  Palestine  may  be  considered  to  amount 
to  about  125,000,  exclusive  of  the  twelve  thousand  Jews 
of  Damascus. 

About  the  year  1770,  when  Palestine  had  been  free 

i  By  "present"  here  and  henceforth  is  intended  "prevailing  im- 
mediately previous  to  the  outbreak  of  war." 

59 


60  Palestine 

for  centuries  from  outside  disturbance,  according  to  the 
statement  of  a  Rabbi — Isaac  Karigal,  of  Hebron — as  re- 
corded by  Ezra  Stiles  in  his  diary,  there  were  about  a 
thousand  Jewish  families  in  Palestine.  These  were  to 
be  found  not  orly  in  the  four  Holy  Cities,  Jerusalem, 
Tiberias,  Safed,  and  Hebron — always  the  centres  of 
Jewish  piety — and  in  Damascus — a  city  which  since  the 
dawn  of  history  has  always  been  a  great  Jewish  centre 
— but  also  in  Gaza,  Shechem  (Nablous),  Acco  (Acre), 
Sidon,  and  Jaffa.  Of  these  the  largest  Jewish  centres 
were  Jerusalem,  Safed,  Hebron,  and  Damascus.  The 
unrest  and  almost  ceaseless  warfare  which  prevailed 
during  the  succeeding  half  a  century  were  not  conducive 
to  a  growth  of  population  either  from  immigration  or 
from  an  excess  of  births  over  deaths.  Nevertheless, 
there  was  a  small  increase  in  the  number  of  Jews  in  the 
country,  and  when  Sir  Moses  Montefiore  paid  his  first 
visit  to  Jerusalem  in  1827,  he  found  about  five  hundred 
and  sixty  Jews  there.  Of  these,  two  hundred  were 
elderly  widows.  The  condition  of  the  community  was 
one  of  great  poverty.  Not  much  less  than  half  of  the 
Jews  of  Jerusalem  were  Ashkenazim — that  is  to  say, 
immigrants  or  the  children  of  immigrants  from  Europe ; 
whereas  not  many  years  before  it  could  be  said  that 
there  were  no  Ashkenazim  in  Jerusalem.  The  few  who 
were  in  Palestine  had  settled  at  Safed  and  Tiberias  in 
Galilee.  This  appearance  in  Jerusalem  was  the  begin- 
ning of  a  movement  which  has  made  of  Jerusalem  an 
Ashkenazi  Jewish  city. 

In  the  year  1839  the  Committee  of  the  General  As- 
sembly of  the  Church  of  Scotland  for  the  Conversion  of 
the  Jews  sent  two  of  its  members — Andrew  Bonar  and 
Robert  Murray  M  'Cheyne — to  Palestine  to  report  on  the 


The  Growth  of  the  Towns  61 

condition  of  the  Jews  in  the  country.  They  traversed 
the  land  from  El  Arish  on  the  Egyptian  frontier,  to 
Beyrout  in  the  north,  and  visited  every  Jewish  centre. 
They  reported  that  there  was  very  little  natural  increase 
of  the  population,  and  that  the  gain  from  immigra- 
tion just  about  covered  the  loss  by  death.  The  condi- 
tion of  the  Jews  was  one  of  deep  depression.  By  the 
Mohammedans  they  were  regularly  oppressed,  but  by 
the  Christians  of  all  denominations  they  were  actively 
persecuted.  The  only  friend  whom  the  Jews  of  Pales- 
tine possessed  was  the  British  Consul.  They  estimated 
the  number  of  the  Jews  of  Palestine  at  from  11,000  to 
13,000.  Of  these  about  half — five  to  seven  thousand — 
lived  at  Jerusalem,  two  thousand  were  at  Safed,  fifteen 
hundred  at  Tiberias,  from  seven  to  eight  hundred  at 
Hebron,  and  about  two  hundred  at  Nablous.  On  the 
coast  there  were  about  two  hundred  Jews  at  Beyrout, 
sixty  at  Jaffa,  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred  at 
Haifa,  two  hundred  at  Acre,  one  hundred  and  fifty  at 
Tyre,  and  three  hundred  at  Sidon.  About  five  hundred 
Jews  lived  in  the  villages  of  Galilee.  In  addition  there 
were  about  five  thousand  Jews  in  Damascus.  Of  the 
Jews  of  Jerusalem,  about  two  thousand  were  Ashkena- 
zim  from  Russia,  Poland,  and  Hungary.  A  couple  of 
years  previous  to  the  visit  of  the  Scottish  missionaries 
there  had  been  a  slight  redistribution  of  the  Jews  of 
Palestine  in  consequence  of  earthquakes  at  Safed  and 
Tiberias,  which  led  to  a  large  emigration  from  those 
cities.  By  this  means  most  of  the  communities  in  the 
coast  towns  had  been  established,  although  some  of  the 
settlers  there  were  Algerian  Jews  who  had  been  driven 
from  their  homes  by  the  warfare  which  followed  the 
invasion  of  the  French.    The  earthquake  of  1837  also 


62  Palestine 

led  to  a  large  migration  to  Jerusalem.  This  emigration 
of  Jews  from  Algeria  was  not  favoured  by  the  French 
Government,  who  warned  the  emigrants  that  if  they  did 
not  return  they  would  forfeit  all  claim  to  French  pro- 
tection, and  would,  so  far  as  France  was  concerned,  be 
considered  Ottoman  subjects. 

The  condition  of  affairs  in  Palestine  about  the  year 
1840  is  described  in  an  account  given  by  a  European 
resident  there.  ' '  Commercial  intercourse  with  the  coun- 
try people  is  utterly  impossible,  on  account  of  their 
extremely  uncivilized  and  savage  state,  even  where  they 
are  not  addicted  to  stealing  and  rapine.  Their  idle 
habits  prevent  their  cultivating  their  fields  beyond  what 
absolute  necessity  requires;  the  ground  remains  fallow, 
while  the  price  of  corn  rises  higher  and  higher.  A  de- 
mand for  merchandise  is  very  seldom  found  among  the 
country  people,  because  the  climate  in  a  great  measure 
exempts  them  from  the  necessity  of  dress.  On  this  ac- 
count, retail  traffic  with  the  country  people  is  rendered 
impossible. 

"The  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  can  also  derive  no 
maintenance  from  the  pursuit  of  husbandry,  because  the 
wild  Arabs,  if  they  do  not  destroy  and  pillage  the  plan- 
tations when  first  laid  out,  are  sure  to  appropriate  the 
ripe  fruit  to  their  own  use. 

' '  The  Jews  in  Jerusalem  must  therefore  seek  for  a  live- 
lihood in  the  town  itself,  which  cannot,  however,  possi- 
bly suffice  for  its  inhabitants,  in  the  present  low  state  of 
industry  and  the  want  of  mercantile  interests  and  con- 
nexions. There  are  shoemakers  and  tailors  enough,  and 
they  find  a  livelihood ;  but  all  cannot  follow  those  trades, 
just  as  all  cannot  earn  their  daily  bread  by  studying  or 
teaching  the  Talmud." 


The  Growth  of  the  Towns  63 

Another  European,  writing  from  Safed  in  1845,  said : 
' '  The  Jews  here  are  still  sorely  oppressed  by  the  Turks ; 
they  are  robbed,  injured,  and  insulted,  and  have  no 
appeal.  Every  man  doeth  that  which  is  right  in  his 
own  eyes.  A  Turk  will  enter  a  shop  and  demand  so 
much  money;  if  the  poor  man  threatens  to  go  to  a 
judge,  he  is  told,  'My  sword  is  the  judge — give  or  take 
the  consequences!'  This  has  really  happened  since  our 
return  to  a  poor  Jew  and  was  told  us  by  another  Jew. 
If  they  begin  to  have  anything  to  do  with  Christianity, 
they  would  be  liable  to  suffer  perhaps  little  less  from 
their  own  unbelieving  brethren." 

A  third  witness,  Joseph  Israel,  known  as  Benjamin  II. 
(the  first  of  that  name  was  Benjamin  of  Tudela),  a 
famous  traveller  in  his  generation,  visited  Palestine  in 
1847.    His  account  confirms  the  two  previously  quoted: 

"Deep  misery  and  continual  oppression  are  the  right 
words  to  describe  the  condition  of  the  Children  of  Israel 
in  the  land  of  their  fathers.  I  comprise  a  short  and 
faithful  picture  of  their  actual  state  under  the  following 
heads : 

"1.  They  are  entirely  destitute  of  every  legal  protec- 
tion and  every  means  of  safety.  Instead  of  security 
afforded  by  law,  which  is  unknown  in  these  countries, 
they  are  completely  under  the  orders  of  the  Sheiks  and 
Pachas,  men  whose  character  and  feelings  inspire  but 
little  confidence  from  the  beginning.  It  is  only  the 
European  Consuls  who  frequently  take  care  of  the  op- 
pressed, and  afford  them  some  protection. 

"2.  "With  unheard-of  rapacity  tax  upon  tax  is  levied 
on  them,  and  with  the  exception  of  Jerusalem,  the  taxes 
demanded  are  arbitrary.  Whole  communities  have  been 
impoverished  by  the  exorbitant  claims  of  the  Sheiks, 


64  Palestine 

who,  under  the  most  trifling  pretences  and  without  be- 
ing subject  to  any  control,  oppress  the  Jews  with  fresh 
burthens.  It  is  impossible  to  enumerate  all  their  op- 
pressions. 

"3.  In  the  strict  sense  of  the  word,  the  Jews  are  not 
even  masters  of  their  own  property.  They  do  not  even 
venture  to  complain  when  they  are  robbed  and  plun- 
dered ;  for  the  vengeance  of  the  Arabs  would  be  sure  to 
follow  each  complaint.  .  .  . 

"4.  Their  lives  are  taken  into  as  little  consideration 
as  their  property;  they  are  exposed  to  the  caprice  of 
any  one;  even  the  smallest  pretext,  even  a  harmless 
discussion,  a  word  dropped  in  conversation,  is  enough 
to  cause  bloody  reprisals.  Violence  of  every  kind  is  of 
daily  occurrence." 

The  Jews  of  the  four  Holy  Cities — that  is  to  say, 
practically  the  whole  of  the  Jewish  population  of  Pales- 
tine— were  supported  to  a  very  large  extent  by  the  sys- 
tem of  Chalukah,  the  organized  collection  of  funds  in 
the  Diaspora,  the  lands  of  the  Dispersion,  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  pious  scholars  of  Palestine.  The  system  is 
practically  coeval  with  the  Christian  era.  In  theory  it 
was  a  voluntary  tax  levied  on  the  Jews  outside  of  Pales- 
tine, who  were  themselves  unwilling  or  unable  to  return 
to  the  land  and  to  devote  themselves  there  to  the  pur- 
suit of  Jewish  learning,  for  the  support  of  those  who 
were  living  in  Palestine  and  spending  the  whole  of  their 
lives  in  study.  The  Chalukah  in  its  essence  may  well  be 
compared  with  the  mediaeval  Christian  system  of  sup- 
porting students  at  the  Universities.  The  Holy  Cities 
of  Palestine  were  the  Universities  of  Jewry.  But  not 
only  the  students  themselves,  but  also  their  families,  and 
in  time  their  remote  descendants,  were  eligible  for  sup- 


The  Growth  of  the  Towns  65 

port  from  the  Chalukah.  So  long  as  the  fund  was  de- 
voted strictly  to  the  encouragement  of  learning  and  to 
the  support  of  the  aged  and  infirm — for  gradually  the 
Holy  Land  became  the  almshouse  of  Jewry — criticism 
of  the  details  of  administration  alone  was  justified. 
When,  however,  as  in  due  course  occurred,  it  became  a 
huge  machine  for  the  pauperization  and  the  consequent 
degradation  of  the  Jews  of  the  Holy  Land,  the  system 
as  a  whole  laid  itself  open  to  well-justified  attack.  The 
Chalukah  system  is  largely  responsible  for  the  only  Jew- 
ish problem  existing  in  Palestine  to-day — the  huge  mass 
of  helpless  poverty  in  Jerusalem  and  the  other  Holy 
Cities. 

This  tribute  from  the  Diaspora  was  collected  by  means 
of  meshullachim,  or  duly  accredited  messengers  sent  out 
periodically  from  the  Holy  Land,  not  only  to  all  parts 
of  Europe  where  Jews  were  settled,  but  also  to  America, 
Egypt,  Persia,  Asia  Minor,  and  even  to  Australia  and 
South  Africa.  These  messengers  received  very  liberal 
commission,  and  seldom  failed  to  find  their  mission  very 
profitable.  Gradually  local  societies  arose  in  Europe  for 
the  support  of  the  Jewish  inhabitants  of  the  Holy  Land. 
The  Jews  of  Palestine  at  the  same  time  split  into  congre- 
gations, each  representing  a  district  in  Europe  from 
which  its  members  originated.  A  definite  relationship 
came  into  being  between  the  Palestinian  congregation 
and  the  European  society  or  committee.  In  the  mean- 
while the  European  societies  were  affiliated  to  a  central 
organization  formed  at  Amsterdam.  And  in  Palestine 
the  fissiparous  tendency  displayed  in  the  creation  of 
local  congregations  led  also  to  the  formation  of  a  central 
committee,  in  whose  care  were  those  applicants  for  relief 
who,   coming   from   relatively  unimportant   centres   in 


66  Palestine 

Europe,  had  no  local  congregations  in  Palestine  to  join. 
To  this  central  committee  was  entrusted  the  payment  of 
the  general  expenses,  including  the  salaries  of  the  Rab- 
bis, the  communal  taxes,  and  the  customary  and  neces- 
sary baksheesh  to  the  Turkish  functionaries.  The  total 
income  of  the  Chalukah  is  as  a  rule  very  considerable; 
nevertheless,  in  most  cases  the  amount  of  relief  given  per 
head  is  quite  insufficient  for  the  support  of  the  recipient. 

The  Russo-Turkish  War  in  1878,  by  draining  Pales- 
tine, in  common  with  other  parts  of  the  Turkish  Empire, 
of  a  large  part  of  its  young  Moslem  manhood — at  that 
time  non-Moslems  were  not  permitted  to  serve  in  the 
Turkish  Army — led  to  a  widespread  decay  of  prosperity. 
Colonel  Conder,  visiting  the  country  in  1881,  found  vil- 
lages which  had  been  prosperous  when  visited  a  few 
years  previously,  fallen  or  falling  into  decay.  Those  of 
the  proud  and  relatively  wealthy  chiefs  who  had  sur- 
vived had  become  paupers.  Their  lands  were  sold  or 
were  for  sale  to  any  comer.  The  peasants  had  lost  their 
freedom  and  had  become  serfs  to  the  usurers.  Their 
lands  had  passed  permanently  out  of  their  possession. 
A  new  landowner  was  appearing  in  the  person  of  Ger- 
man and  Jewish  colonists  who  began  to  settle  in  the  land. 
The  Jewish  population  did  not  suffer  from  the  same 
causes,  but  the  war  caused  a  considerable  diminution  in 
the  volume  of  immigration,  and  as  this  was  the  larger 
source  from  which  the  Jews  of  Palestine  drew  their 
numbers,  the  numerical  advance  consequently  suffered 
a  set-back. 

In  the  history  of  the  Jews  of  Palestine  the  close  of  the 
Russo-Turkish  War  marks  a  definite  epoch.  Previously 
the  Holy  Land  had  been  to  but  an  insignificant  extent  a 
land  of  colonization  or  settlement  for  the  Jews  of  the 


The  Growth  of  the  Towns  67 

Diaspora:  it  had  been  merely  a  land  of  pilgrimage  for 
the  pious,  in  which  many  remained  to  the  end  of  their 
days.  The  Jewry  of  the  Holy  Land  was  not  only  not 
self-supporting:  it  was,  in  the  absence  of  new  elements, 
incapable  of  ever  becoming  self-supporting.  Its  func- 
tion was  to  study,  to  pray,  and  to  die  on  holy  soil :  that 
of  the  Jews  of  the  remainder  of  the  world  was  to  keep 
them  and  their  dependants  alive  until  the  time  came  for 
their  burial  in  sacred  ground.  In  such  circumstances 
the  Jews  of  Palestine  not  only  had  no  future,  but  de- 
spite their  numbers,  may  be  said  to  have  had  no  present. 
The  Eusso-Turkish  War,  as  is  usual  with  successful 
wars,  was  followed  by  a  period  of  reaction.  In  all  such 
periods  the  class  in  the  population  that  suffers  most 
bitterly  is  the  Jewish.  The  Jews  of  Russia  had  for  many 
years  previously  enjoyed  relative  liberty.  They  were 
being  gradually  admitted  as  equals  into  the  life  of  the 
Eussian  nation  and  the  Russian  people.  Assimilation 
was  spreading  among  them.  Among  the  intellectual 
classes  their  Judaism  was  regarded  not  only  by  them- 
selves, but  also  by  their  non-Jewish  neighbours,  as  only 
a  matter  of  religious  belief.  The  liberal  policy  of 
Alexander  II.  was  succeeding  in  all  directions,  and  the 
Jews  felt  themselves  Russians,  equally  with  the  other 
races  of  the  Empire  children  of  the  Tsar.  But  the 
orgy  of  massacre  which  opened  the  period  of  reaction 
shattered  all  these  beliefs  and  hopes.  The  Jew  of  the 
professional  classes,  equally  with  his  brother  of  the 
proletariat,  found  himself  in  effect  an  outlaw.  Many 
lost  hope  so  far  as  their  own  country  was  concerned. 
The  great  exodus  to  Western  Europe  and  America  com- 
menced. The  more  spiritual,  perhaps  the  more  states- 
manlike— a    very    small    minority — turned    their    eyes 


68  Palestine 

towards  the  Holy  Land.  A  new  class  of  settler  began 
to  arrive  there.  The  story  of  the  regeneration  of  Pales- 
tine at  the  hands  of  these  refugees  will  be  told  in  a 
later  chapter.  It  should  be  stated  at  once,  however,  that 
the  arrival  of  the  first  of  them  marked  a  turning-point 
in  the  history  of  the  country. 

In  the  year  1880,  immediately  before  the  beginning 
of  the  new  immigration,  the  Jewish  population  amounted 
to  about  25,000  souls.  In  the  course  of  the  subsequent 
thirty-five  years  it  has  multiplied  fivefold. 

The  story  of  the  Jews  in  Palestine  must  henceforth  be 
dealt  with  under  the  headings  of  the  different  settle- 
ments, new  as  well  as  old.  On  only  a  few  points  can 
they  be  dealt  with  as  a  whole.  The  rapid  increase  in 
the  number  of  Jewish  settlers,  especially  from  Russia — 
a  country  of  which  Turkey  has  always  been  suspicious — 
caused  the  authorities  some  uneasiness,  especially  when 
the  Russian  Consul  at  Jerusalem  openly  boasted  that  he 
had  more  "subjects"  than  those  of  all  the  other  Con- 
suls combined.  The  year  1887  consequently  saw  a  tight- 
ening of  the  administration  of  the  immigration  laws. 
In  order  to  prevent  further  Jewish  settlement  the  period 
of  stay  of  Jewish  visitors  was  limited  to  one  month, 
almost  immediately  extended  to  three  months.  The 
reasons  for  this  step  given  to  the  American  Ambassador 
were  ' '  that  the  spirit  of  religious  fanaticism  rose  to  such 
a  high  pitch  at  Jerusalem  that  at  certain  seasons  of  the 
year,  during  Easter,  the  Jews  were  compelled  to  remain 
within  their  houses  to  avoid  coming  in  contact  with  the 
Christians,  who  would  attack  them  and  perhaps  murder 
them";  and  also  "the  report  that  had  spread  abroad 
that  the  Jews  throughout  the  world  intended  to 
strengthen  themselves  in  and  around  Jerusalem  with  a 


The  Growth  of  the  Towns  69 

view,  at  some  future  time,  of  re-establishing  their 
ancient  kingdom  there. ' '  The  United  States  was  not  sat- 
isfied with  these  explanations,  and  protested  against  the 
restrictions  so  far  as  their  subjects  were  concerned. 
The  protest  was  supported  by  the  British  and  French 
Governments,  also  in  defence  of  the  interests  of  their 
subjects  and  proteges.  Russia  and  Germany,  however, 
supported  Turkey  in  her  proposed  restrictions.  But  the 
protests  of  the  liberal  states  were  in  effect  successful. 
The  projected  expulsions  were  abandoned  and  the  Turk- 
ish Government  explained  that  the  regulations  were  in- 
tended to  apply  only  to  immigration  on  a  considerable 
scale.  "  The  restrictions  still  remained  in  existence,  on 
paper,  as  a  dead-letter;  but  for  a  time  Jews  were  pro- 
hibited from  purchasing  land  in  Palestine. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

JERUSALEM 

The  Jews  of  Jerusalem  may  be  said  to  have  been  dis- 
covered by  their  wealthier  co-religionists  in  Western 
Europe  in  the  year  1840,  when  the  city  was  visited  by 
Cremieux  and  Montefiore  in  the  course  of  their  mission 
to  Damascus.  Montefiore  had  been  in  the  city  thirteen 
years  previously,  but  this  visit  was  merely  a  preliminary 
reconnaissance  with  no  apparent  result  so  far  as  the 
discovery  of  Jerusalem  by  the  emancipated  Jews  of  the 
Diaspora  was  concerned.  From  the  second  visit  of 
Montefiore,  however,  an  ever-increasing  interest  in  Pales- 
tine and  the  Jewish  inhabitants  of  that  country  began 
to  permeate  the  Jewries  of  the  world,  until  to-day  Pales- 
tine is  probably  the  region  that  looms  largest  in  the 
hopes  and  fears  of  the  Jews.  The  exodus  from  Safed 
and  Tiberias  two  or  three  years  before  this  visit  had 
considerably  increased  the  Jewish  population  of  the 
ancient  capital  of  the  Jews,  whose  numbers  had  thereby 
been  raised  to  about  three  thousand  souls.  The  new- 
comers were,  however,  not  a  gain  to  the  community.  If 
the  poverty  of  those  who  were  already  living  in  the  city 
could  have  been  rendered  more  intense,  this  influx  would 
have  done  it.  Like  those  whom  they  were  joining,  they 
were  all  steeped  in  the  direst  poverty,  living  in  condi- 
tions inconceivable  to  their  more  fortunate  brethren 
whose  necessities,  if  known,  would  have  been  considered 

70 


Jerusalem  71 


unattainable  luxuries  by  their  brethren  in  the  holy 
cities  of  Palestine.  The  poverty  was  not  due  to  disincli- 
nation from  toil  on  the  part  of  those  who  were  capable 
of  undertaking  it.  The  chief  cause  of  the  poverty  was 
the  absence  of  demand  for  anything  that  the  Jews  could 
produce.  The  native  population — the  Arabs — had  no 
needs  which  they  themselves  could  not  supply.  No  cus- 
tomers or  employers  could  be  found  by  Jewish  artisans 
among  them.  An  export  trade  did  not  yet  exist,  even  in 
embryo,  so  far  as  Jerusalem  was  concerned.  Commerce 
and  manufacture  were  thus  out  of  the  question.  Agri- 
culture, the  only  other  possible  resource,  was  equally 
impossible  on  account  of  the  insecurity  of  the  country. 
Thus  the  only  support  of  the  Jews  of  the  city  was  the 
charity  of  their  more  fortunate  brethren  in  other  lands. 
In  the  course  of  the  following  ten  or  fifteen  years  the 
number  of  Jews  in  Jerusalem  almost  trebled,  until  they 
came  to  form  almost  a  third  of  the  total  population. 
Their  condition  showed  little  improvement,  but  whatever 
industry  was  to  be  found  in  the  city  was  almost  entirely 
in  their  hands.  Tailors,  bakers,  blacksmiths,  shoemak- 
ers, watchmakers,  glaziers,  etc.,  were  almost  without  ex- 
ception Jews.  Also  without  exception,  they  failed  to 
obtain  employment  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year. 
A  few  attempts  began  to  be  made  to  deal  with  this  huge 
mass  of  unemployment  and  consequent  poverty  and 
misery,  but  they  were  on  so  small  a  scale  as  not  even  to 
touch  the  fringe  of  the  problem.  Of  two  houses  of  in- 
dustry one,  that  for  men,  was  conducted  by  the  London 
Society  for  Promoting  Christianity  among  the  Jews. 
It  was  doomed  to  inefficacy  from  its  initiation.  The  con- 
versionist  movement  has  never  had  the  slightest  success 
among  the  Jews  of  the  Holy  Land,  despite  their  extreme 


72  Palestine 

poverty.  The  institution  aroused  suspicion  on  account 
of  its  sponsors,  and  the  Jews  of  Palestine  preferred 
death  from  starvation  to  living  by  bread  which  to  them 
was  tainted.  The  other  house  of  industry  was  for 
women  and  children.  It  was  founded  by  a  Miss  Cooper 
without  any  proselytizing  tendency.  As  a  consequence, 
instead  of  being  boycotted,  it  met  with  a  success  that 
strained  its  resources.  These  resources  were  of  very 
small  dimensions,  and  although  the  work  the  institution 
performed  was  of  great  value,  it  had  no  appreciable  ef- 
fect on  the  problem.  A  third  institution,  whose  useful- 
ness has  continued  until  the  present  day,  was  founded 
about  the  same  time  by  the  British  Consul,  James  Finn, 
and  his  wife.  They  recognized  the  urgent  need  of  in- 
dustrial occupation  if  the  spirits  as  well  as  the  bodies  of 
the  wretched  Jews  of  Jerusalem  were  to  be  preserved 
alive,  and  with  no  missionary  arriere-pensee  they  set  to 
work  to  succour  them.  "Abraham's  Vineyard,"  as 
Mrs.  Finn's  work  of  charity  came  to  be  called,  com- 
menced in  the  most  modest  manner.  The  wife  of  the 
British  Consul  hired  a  very  small  piece  of  ground  just 
within  the  city  walls,  and  set  two  Jews  to  cultivate  it. 
To  her  is  due  the  honour  of  being  the  first  in  modern 
times  to  place  rakes  and  spades  in  the  hands  of  Jerusa- 
lem Jews.  The  work  prospered  so  greatly,  and  the  ap- 
plications for  employment  were  so  numerous,  that  within 
a  few  years — in  1852 — Mrs.  Finn  found  it  necessary  and 
possible  to  buy  a  larger  piece  of  land.  Ten  acres  were 
purchased  for  £250.  The  Jews  flocked  to  it  for  employ- 
ment. All  who  could  be  taken  were  admitted,  and  by 
their  industry  and  devotion  to  work  these  hereditary 
paupers,  and  those  who  came  after  them,  so  improved 
the  land  entrusted  to  them,  that  when  valued  twelve  or 


Jerusalem  73 


fifteen  years  ago  it  was  considered  to  be  worth  £20,000. 
The  experiment  of  Abraham 's  Vineyard,  apart  from  the 
benefits  it  conferred  on  those  whom  it  employed  and  their 
dependants,  showed  that  the  Jew  of  Jerusalem  was  not 
unemployable :  he  needed  only  the  opportunity  for  work. 
The  work  performed  unaided  by  Mrs.  Finn  and  her 
husband  for  many  years  was  afterwards  taken  over  by 
an  English  society  known  as  the  Syrian  Colonization 
Fund,  or  the  Society  for  the  Relief  of  Persecuted  Jews. 
The  workers  were  at  first  employed  in  agriculture. 
They  were  soon  also  employed  in  building  and  blasting 
the  rock  in  order  to  form  huge  cisterns  for  the  storage  of 
water.  But  the  industry  carried  on  at  Abraham 's  Vine- 
yard that  is  most  widely  known  is  the  manufacture  of 
soap  from  the  products  of  the  olive-tree  and  from  alkali, 
which  also  is  to  be  found  in  Palestine.  This  soap  is 
exported  from  the  country  as  well  as  sold  for  home 
consumption. 

The  visit  of  Montefiore  to  Jerusalem  in  1840  led  di- 
rectly to  the  establishment  three  years  later  of  a  dispen- 
sary which  was  afterwards  merged  in  a  local  hospital. 
A  few  years  later  he  founded  a  school  for  Jewish  girls, 
in  which,  among  other  subjects,  dressmaking,  embroid- 
ery, and  domestic  economy  were  taught.  The  school  had 
to  be  discontinued  in  1857  for  want  of  funds.  About 
the  same  time  he  gave  his  adhesion  to  the  first  project 
for  the  building  of  a  railway  from  Jaffa  to  Jerusalem, 
a  project  which  ultimately  came  to  fruition  thirty-five 
years  later,  after  Montefiore 's  death.  It  was  in  the 
fifties  also  that  the  first  of  the  Jewish  "colonies"  out- 
side the  walls  of  Jerusalem  was  founded.  The  means 
that  rendered  the  erection  of  the  houses  possible  were 
forthcoming  under  the  will  of  Judah  Touro,  an  Ameri- 


74  Palestine 

can  Jewish  philanthropist,  who  appointed  Montefiore 
his  executor.  The  latter,  to  whom  a  considerable  discre- 
tion was  left,  wanted  at  first  to  erect  a  hospital,  but  a 
hospital  was  one  of  the  several  institutions  for  the  benefit 
of  the  Jews  of  Jerusalem  founded  at  that  very  time  by 
the  French  Rothschilds,  acting  on  the  advice  of  their 
almoner  whom  they  had  sent  to  the  East,  Albert  Colin. 
The  Touro  Bequest,  supplemented  by  a  large  sum  from 
the  pocket  of  Montefiore  himself,  was  thereupon  devoted 
to  the  erection  of  almshouses  for  Jewish  men  of  learning. 
The  overcrowded  state  of  the  city  rendered  an  expan- 
sion beyond  the  walls  inevitable :  the  Mishkenoth  Shaan- 
annim  (dwellings  of  those  who  live  at  ease),  as  they  were 
named,  so  that  the  feelings  of  the  inmates  should  not  be 
hurt,  were  the  pioneers  in  this  expansion. 

The  hospital  founded  by  the  Rothschild  family  of 
Paris  on  the  occasion  of  the  visit  of  Albert  Cohn  in  1854 
was  not  the  only  beneficent  institution  that  the  Jews 
of  Jerusalem  at  that  time  owed  to  the  same  family  of 
philanthropists.  Albert  Cohn  visited  Jerusalem  on  five 
occasions  during  the  period  1854  to  1869.  On  the  first 
he  went  as  the  representative  of  the  Consistoire  Central 
des  Israelites  de  France,  which  had  been  requested  by 
the  Jews  of  Western  Europe  to  investigate  the  condition 
of  their  co-religionists  in  the  Turkish  Empire,  and  to 
endeavour  to  alleviate  it  if  desirable.  On  Cohn 's  advice 
a  society  of  manual  workers,  a  girls '  school — the  original 
of  the  present  Evelina  School — and  a  loan  society  were 
founded  in  addition  to  the  hospital.  A  couple  of  years 
later  the  Austrian  poet,  Ludwig  August  Frankl,  visited 
Jerusalem  at  the  request  of  Elise  von  Herz-Lamel  in 
order  to  take  the  necessary  steps  for  the  establishment 
by  her  of  the  Von  Lamel  School,  whose  activities  still 


Jerusalem  75 


continue.  In  the  meanwhile  the  proportion  that  the 
Jews  of  Jerusalem  bore  to  the  general  population  was 
continually  rising,  until  in  1863  it  was  estimated  that  of 
the  three  classes  into  which  the  population  might  be 
divided — Jews,  Mohammedans,  and  Christians  of  eleven 
or  more  sects — that  of  the  Jews  was  the  most  numerous. 
The  extension  of  Jerusalem  beyond  the  walls  was  very 
noticeable  to  Montefiore,  who  remarked  upon  it  in  his 
diary  when  he  visited  the  city  in  1875,  and  practically 
the  whole  of  the  extension  was  Jewish.  He  also  noticed 
a  considerable  increase  in  the  traffic  on  the  road  from 
Jaffa  to  Jerusalem,  and  a  welcome  appearance  of  self- 
reliance  and  independence  on  the  part  of  a  section  of  the 
Jewish  population  of  the  city.  In  fact,  a  new  popula- 
tion— quite  different  from  the  aged  and  pious,  who  had 
in  the  past  composed  the  greater  part  of  the  Jewish  in- 
habitants— was  settling  in  the  city.  In  1870  had  arrived 
the  first  of  the  Georgian  settlers  from  the  Caucasus,  who 
already  numbered  two  hundred  at  the  time  of  Monte- 
fiore's  visit.  Physically  they  were  very  different  from 
the  older  type  of  settler — the  Sephardim,  the  Ashkena- 
zim,  and  the  Maghrabim  or  Moroccans.  They  came  with 
the  full  approval  of  the  Russian  Government,  in  whose 
military  service  several  of  them  had  gained  medals, 
which  they  wore  with  pride.  Apart  from  these  Geor- 
gians, however,  the  Jews  of  Jerusalem  were  no  longer 
almost  entirely  dependent  on  the  bounty  and  charity  of 
their  co-religionists  in  Europe.  A  fair  proportion  were 
engaged  in  industry  and  commerce.  Tailoring,  shoe- 
making,  carpentry,  weaving,  working  in  metals,  as  well 
as  the  unskilled  work  of  labourer  and  porter  were  all 
pursued.  The  Jews  of  Jerusalem  had  even  created  a 
foreign  trade.     Some  had  raised  themselves  to  positions 


76  Palestine 

of  relative  affluence;  one  even  to  that  of  British  Vice- 
Consul  at  Jaffa.  Another  sign  of  the  great  advance  that 
had  been  made  in  recent  years  was  the  formation  of  co- 
operative societies  for  the  erection  of  houses  in  the  new 
quarter  outside  the  walls.  There  were  three  such  build- 
ing societies  in  existence  in  1875,  and  by  means  of  them 
their  members  were  building  for  themselves  comfortable 
houses  in  healthy  surroundings.  To  commemorate  this, 
the  last  visit  of  Montefiore  to  the  Holy  Land,  the  Monte- 
fiore  Testimonial  Fund  was  raised  in  London.  It  was 
to  a  small  extent  employed  in  the  encouragement  of  new 
industries,  but  the  bulk  of  the  Fund  was  devoted  to 
loans  for  the  erection  of  houses  in  the  new  quarter.  The 
loans  are  repayable  over  a  term  of  years,  and  the  money 
as  it  comes  in  is  again  lent  for  a  similar  purpose.  Thus 
the  important  work  which  the  Fund  performs  never 
ceases,  and  with  its  assistance  a  large  colony  of  substan- 
tial stone  houses  has  come  into  existence. 

The  progress  continued,  although  it  was  much  dimin- 
ished by  the  outbreak  of  the  Russo-Turkish  War,  so  that 
in  1880,  on  the  eve  of  the  great  Jewish  migration  from 
Russia,  which  opened  a  new  era  in  Palestine,  the  Jewish 
population  of  the  city  amounted  to  about  15,000  souls. 
Of  these  the  Sephardim — practically  all  natives  of  the 
Holy  Land  or  of  some  other  portion  of  the  Turkish 
Empire — and  the  Ashkenazim — immigrants  or  the  near 
descendants  of  immigrants  from  Eastern  Europe — about 
equalled  one  another  in  numbers.  There  were  in  addi- 
tion twelve  or  thirteen  hundred  Moroccan  Jews,  who 
also  formed  a  community  by  themselves.  The  artisans 
— one-fifth  among  the  Sephardim  and  Moroccans,  and 
nearly  a  third  among  the  Ashkenazim — had  spread  into 
a  variety  of  occupations ;  watchmakers,  goldsmiths,  lace- 


Jerusalem  77 


makers,  bronze-founders,  and  even  umbrella-makers,  be- 
ing found  among  them.  Another  large  section  consisted 
of  traders,  for  the  most  part  small  shopkeepers,  although 
the  community  now  included  one  native  firm  of  bankers 
of  repute.  Rabbis,  teachers,  and  others  professionally 
concerned  with  the  Jewish  cult  were  also  numerous,  and 
there  was  also  a  considerable  proportion  entirely  or  al- 
most entirely  dependent  on  charity.  With  the  progress 
of  the  community  the  number  of  the  communal  institu- 
tions also  grew.  The  number  of  synagogues  and  schools 
was  large.  There  were  two  hospitals,  several  almshouses 
and  other  institutions  for  the  care  of  the  aged,  and  six 
building  societies.  All  of  the  last  mentioned  had  al- 
ready formed  colonies  outside  the  walls  of  Jerusalem, 
where  the  Georgian  Jews  had  also  settled.  Each  society 
was  governed  by  a  committee  consisting  as  a  rule  of  one 
Turkish,  one  Austrian,  one  German,  one  Russian,  and 
one  English  subject  or  protege.  Each  colony  was  iso- 
lated from  the  others,  well  built  of  white  stone,  which  is 
plentiful  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  contained  a  syna- 
gogue, a  school-house,  a  bakery,  a  bath-house,  and  a  com- 
mon water-supply.  The  colonies  were  governed  on  the 
club  system,  any  member  who  rendered  himself  objec- 
tionable being  liable  to  expulsion  after  his  contributions 
had  been  returned.  The  contributions  of  the  members 
were  so  arranged  that  the  houses  became  their  own  prop- 
erty after  the  expiration  of  ten  years.  The  appropria- 
tion of  residences  took  place  annually  by  lot. 

The  steady  immigration  from  Russia  and  Roumania 
which  commenced  in  the  following  year  gave  a  consider- 
able impetus  to  the  progressive  movements.  The  new- 
comers were  for  the  most  part  men  and  women  who  had 
been  self-supporting  and  independent  before  ruin  over- 


78  Palestine 

took  them  in  their  former  homes,  and  were  anxious  to 
continue  so  in  their  new  country.  They  did  not  come 
as  objects  of  charity,  and  asked  for  nothing  more  than 
an  opportunity  to  earn  their  living.  It  was  quite  impos- 
sible for  the  new-comers  to  find  accommodation  within 
the  walls  of  Jerusalem.  The  number  of  houses  and  colo- 
nies outside  the  walls  consequently  increased  by  leaps 
and  bounds.  Many  of  these  buildings  were  erected  by 
local  effort  only,  but  in  some  cases  European  institu- 
tions, such  as  the  Montefiore  Testimonal  Fund,  rendered 
assistance.  By  now  European  Jewry  was  fully  ac- 
quainted with  Jewish  conditions  in  the  Holy  Land,  and 
many  institutions  for  the  improvement  of  those  condi- 
tions had  been  formed  in  "Western  capitals,  but  their 
activity  was  charitable  rather  than  statesmanlike.  Few 
of  those  who  turned  their  attention  to  the  Holy  Land 
attempted  to  look  below  the  surface. 

By  the  year  1888  the  Jewish  population  had  grown 
to  23,000  out  of  a  total  of  40,000.  Jerusalem  was  fast 
becoming  a  Jewish  city.  The  establishment  of  the 
colonies  was  followed  by  the  repair  of  the  existing  roads 
and  the  laying  out  of  new  ones.  The  town  itself  spread 
outside  the  Jaffa  Gate,  where  some  of  the  principal 
shops  and  hotels  were  opened.  The  Russian  and  Latin 
authorities  had  already  followed  the  Jewish  example  by 
erecting  some  of  their  finest  buildings  in  or  near  the 
new  quarters.  The  officials,  the  Consuls,  and  the  better- 
class  Mohammedans  and  Christians,  also  settled  outside 
the  walls.  The  new  suburbs  soon  became  the  most  fash- 
ionable quarter  of  the  town,  and  probably  housed  as 
much  as  a  third  of  the  total  population.  At  the  same 
time  new  industries — mills  and  soap  factories — were  es- 
tablished.   Jerusalem  was  again,  after  a  lapse  of  many 


Jerusalem  79 


centuries,  a  centre  of  Jewish  industry.  The  revival  of 
Jerusalem  attracted  traders  and  other  visitors,  whose 
numbers  were  increased  by  the  facilities  offered  by  the 
railway  from  Jaffa  which  was  opened  in  1892. 

There  is  now — or,  to  be  exact,  was  immediately  before 
the  outbreak  of  war — a  Jewish  population  in  Jerusa- 
lem of  about  65,000  out  of  a  total  of  a  hundred  thou- 
sand. They  come  from  almost  every  country  of  the 
Diaspora,  but  the  bulk  of  the  immigrants  are  from 
Russia,  Austria,  Roumania,  Hungary,  Germany,  Hol- 
land, or  America,  or  have  obtained  the  protection  of  one 
or  other  of  those  Governments.  In  the  case  of  Ger- 
many and  Holland,  they  are  mostly  proteges,  the  de- 
scendants of  German  and  Dutch  subjects.  The  Sephar- 
dim,  or  Oriental  Jews,  are  also  drawn  from  a  variety  of 
regions.  They  include  not  only  natives  of  Palestine,  of 
the  regions  which  until  a  few  years  ago  formed  Euro- 
pean Turkey  and  of  the  Levant  generally,  but  also  Jews 
from  the  Yemen  in  Southern  Arabia,  from  Persia,  from 
Kurdistan,  from  Bokhara,  from  Mesopotamia,  from 
Orfa,  from  Georgia,  and  from  Morocco.  So  varied  are 
the  origins  of  the  Jews  of  Jerusalem,  and  consequently 
their  appearance  and  their  customs,  that  even  if  the 
numerous  non-Jewish  elements  could  be  excluded  the 
crowd  would  still  be  a  many-hued  and  endlessly  chang- 
ing kaleidoscope.  Most  of  these  Sephardi  colonies  are 
relatively  small,  but  as  a  rule  they  make  up  in  pictur- 
esqueness  and  interest  whatever  they  may  lack  in  num- 
bers. The  Bokharans,  who  number  few  more  than  three 
hundred,  have  formed  a  comfortable  settlement  on  a  hill 
about  twenty  minutes'  walk  from  the  city.  Rechoboth, 
as  their  village  is  named,  is  the  finest  and  richest  quar- 
ter in  the  whole  of  the  Jerusalem  district.     The  streets 


80  Palestine 

are  broad  and  the  houses,  of  one  or  two  stories,  pleas- 
antly situated.  The  Bokharan  settlers  are  mostly  mer- 
chants and  men  of  wealth  who,  having  retired  on  their 
means,  have  come  to  Jerusalem  to  settle  there.  Akin  to 
the  Bokharans  are  the  Georgians,  who  emanate  from 
Transcaucasia.  Economically  they  are  a  class  far  below 
the  Bokharans,  although  a  few  equal  them  in  wealth. 
For  the  most  part  they  cannot  properly  be  considered 
wealthy,  no  matter  how  modest  the  standard  of  wealth 
may  be.  They  are  mostly  hawkers  and  retail  traders. 
Nevertheless,  they  are  dependent  on  no  outside  assist- 
ance, but  are  as  a  community  self-supporting. 

Far  lower  in  the  scale  are  the  Persians,  who  also  num- 
ber about  three  hundred,  and  are  perpetually  on  the 
very  brink  of  starvation.  Refugees  from  oppression  and 
persecution  in  their  own  country,  they  live  in  houses,  or 
rather  sheds  and  hovels,  which  adjoin  those  of  the  Yemen- 
ites, their  fellow- victims  of  ceaseless  persecution — in 
their  case  at  the  hands  of  the  practically  independent 
Arab  chiefs  of  Southern  Arabia.  The  Persians  and 
the  Yemenites  occupy  the  Box  Colony,  probably  the 
wretchedest  collection  of  habitations  inhabited  by  any 
body  of  civilized  beings.  The  title  "Box"  is  derived 
from  the  wooden  boxes,  out  of  which,  as  well  as  paraffin 
tins,  these  wretched  hovels  are  constructed.  So  intense 
is  the  poverty  among  the  inhabitants  of  the  Box  Colony 
that  two-thirds  of  the  children  die  in  their  earliest  years. 
The  cravings  of  hunger  may  be  said  to  be  never  satisfied 
among  them.  They  are  practically  unacquainted  with 
meat  as  food.  This  terrible  state  of  poverty  is  not  to  be 
attributed  to  laziness,  but  to  lack  of  employment.  But 
the  expansion  of  the  Jewish  population  in  Palestine  and 
the  spread  of  industry  have  already  begun  to  improve 


Jerusalem  81 


the  conditions  of  the  Persian  and  Yemenite  Jews  in 
common  with  that  of  their  co-religionists.  The  inhabi- 
tants of  the  Box  Colony  are  for  the  most  part  porters 
and  masons,  but  as  the  opportunity  has  been  forthcom- 
ing, they  have  entered  largely  into  agricultural  pursuits, 
while  Yemenites,  trained  at  the  Bezalel  School  of  Arts 
and  Crafts,  have  shown  themselves  adepts  at  filigree- 
work.  As  a  consequence  of  this  spread  of  employment 
the  Box  Colony  is  gradually  being  evacuated  for  human 
habitations. 

Near  the  Persian- Yemenite  Quarter  is  the  small  col- 
ony of  the  Jews  of  Orfa,  from  the  head  waters  of  the 
Euphrates.  They  differ  little  either  in  customs  or  in 
prosperity,  or  lack  of  it,  from  their  Persian  brethren. 
Apart  from  the  Bokharans  and  a  few  Georgians,  the 
Jews  from  Aleppo  in  Syria  are  the  only  immigrant 
Sephardim  in  Jerusalem  whose  condition  shows  any  ap- 
proach to  prosperity.  These  used  to  be  for  the  most 
part  engaged  in  commerce.  In  Jerusalem  they  consid- 
ered themselves  the  aristocratic  section  among  the  Jews, 
and  for  the  most  part  keep  to  themselves.  Of  late  years, 
however,  their  conditions  has  been  much  reduced.  But 
the  condition  of  the  Moroccan  Jews,  who  number  about 
1,200,  is  the  most  terrible.  So  abject  is  their  misery 
that  it  would  seem  that  no  circumstances  could  redeem 
them  from  it.  The  remainder  of  the  20,000  or  so 
Sephardim  of  Jerusalem  are  native-born  or  immigrants 
from  Turkey  in  Europe.  They  include  many  Rabbis 
and  students  of  Jewish  learning,  but  also  a  large  number 
of  artisans  and  labourers,  as  well  as  shopkeepers,  and  one 
banker.  The  forty  thousand  Ashkenazi  Jews  of  Jerusa- 
lem also  are  to  a  very  large  extent  dependent  on  foreign 
charity,  and  on  this  account  are  organized  in  communi- 


82  Palestine 

ties  bound  together  by  a  common  geographical  origin. 
Many  of  the  recipients  of  charity  spend  their  lives  in 
study  and  prayer,  while  others  are  engaged  in  the  serv- 
ice of  the  community.  A  minority  is  employed  in  use- 
ful labour,  but  the  size  of  this  minority  is  dependent  on 
the  scarcity  of  the  demand  for  such  labour.  Experi- 
ments such  as  Abraham's  Vineyard  have  shown  that  the 
Jews  of  Jerusalem,  Ashkenazi  as  well  as  Sephardi,  are 
eager  for  work,  and  that  the  cause  of  their  unemploy- 
ment is  a  lack  of  opportunity.  It  must  also  be  remem- 
bered that  there  is  an  excessive  proportion  of  old  men 
and  other  unemployables  among  them.  If  these  were 
eliminated  from  the  calculation  the  proportion  of  gen- 
uine unemployed  would  not  be  excessive. 

The  most  favourable  picture  of  the  Jews  of  Jerusa- 
lem is,  however,  not  a  pleasant  one,  and  if  they  were 
typical  of  the  Jews  of  the  Holy  Land  there  would  be 
no  hope  for  them  during  the  lifetime  of  the  present 
generation,  and  the  development  of  a  Jewish  future  in 
Palestine  would  be  hardly  yet  in  embryo.  But  among 
the  Jews  of  the  Holy  Land  there  is  a  clear  division  into 
two  classes,  the  old  and  the  new.  The  Jews  of  the  four 
Holy  Cities,  of  which  Jerusalem  is  the  chief,  belong  to 
the  former  of  these  two  classes.  In  the  other  three 
cities  the  Jewish  population  is  entirely  of  the  old  class ; 
in  Jerusalem,  however,  there  is  a  considerable  ingredient 
of  the  new.  For  this  reason,  although  Jerusalem  Jewry 
cannot  be  said  to  be  dead,  the  life  in  it  is  but  an  embryo, 
which,  cut  off  from  outside  influences,  would  be  little 
likely  to  develop  into  a  living  being.  The  hope  of  Jeru- 
salem does  not  lie  in  the  old  city  or  in  its  inhabitants,  but 
in  the  new  Jerusalem  outside  the  walls  which  has  come 
into  existence  in  the  course  of  the  past  two  generations. 


Jerusalem  83 


In  this  new  city  two-thirds  of  the  80,000  inhabitants 
now  dwell.  Here  are  to  be  found  most  of  the  best- 
managed  and  the  best-organized  of  the  numerous  chari- 
table and  educational  institutions  which  are  supported 
and  endowed  by  the  Jews  of  the  remainder  of  the  world. 
Here  in  the  open  air,  free  from  the  walled-in  alleys  and 
courts  and  cellars  of  the  mediaeval  town,  are  now  to  be 
found  some  two  hundred  Jewish  settlements  of  varying 
size.  The  number  of  houses  is  increasing  month  by 
month,  almost  day  by  day,  for  the  growth  of  the  Jewish 
population,  which  is  continuous,  means  the  growth  of 
suburban  Jerusalem.  The  lesson  of  the  Jews  of  Jaffa 
with  their  garden  city  has  been  learnt  by  their  brethren 
in  the  capital.  Land  has  been  acquired  for  the  forma- 
tion of  a  Jewish  garden  suburb  outside  of  Jerusalem, 
and  when  peace  is  at  length  restored  and  normal  life 
returns  to  the  land,  this  great  work  for  the  regeneration 
of  Jerusalem  will  proceed. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  OTHER  TOWNS 

Tiberias,  the  second  in  importance  of  the  Holy  Cities  of 
Palestine,  owes  its  inclusion  in  that  category  to  the 
tombs  of  Jewish  saints  that  are  to  be  found  there.  It  is 
situated  in  Lower  Galilee,  in  the  most  beautiful  district 
of  Palestine,  on  Lake  Gennesareth  (Kinnereth).  Tibe- 
rias was  for  long  the  most  important  Jewish  centre  in 
Palestine.  But  the  earthquake  of  1837,  and  the  cholera 
epidemic  of  1865  and  1866,  affected  its  fortunes  consid- 
erably and  scattered  many  of  its  Jewish  inhabitants. 
The  great  migration  from  Russia  which  commenced  in 
1881  sent  ripples  even  to  Tiberias  and  the  other  little- 
known  centres  of  the  Holy  Land.  The  total  population 
of  the  town  is  now  from  9,000  to  10,000,  about  7,000  of 
whom  are  Jews.  They,  however,  practically  all  belong 
to  the  "old"  class,  and  as  a  consequence  the  life  and 
economic  condition  of  the  town  are  still  stagnant. 

Safed,  the  third  of  the  Holy  Cities,  is  in  Upper  Gali- 
lee, and  has  for  long  been  a  centre  of  Jewish  learning  in 
Palestine.  It  suffered  severely  in  the  earthquake  of 
1837,  when  four  thousand  of  its  Jewish  inhabitants  are 
said  to  have  been  killed  and  a  host  of  the  survivors 
migrated  to  other  towns.  Of  the  18,000  inhabitants  of 
Safed  one-half  are  Jews.  Their  condition  is  somewhat 
more  advanced  than  is  that  of  their  brethren  in  Tiberias, 
as  is  evidenced  by  the  existence  of  a  Zionist  Society  and 

84 


The  Other  Towns  85 

a  lodge  of  the  American  Jewish  Order  of  the  B'nai 
B'rith,  as  well  as  of  two  well-organized  schools  among 
them.  Yet  Saf  ed  must  be  classed  with  Tiberias  as  a  city 
of  the  "old"  type  of  Palestinian  Jew,  as  distinguished 
from  the  "new." 

Near  Safed  is  the  village  of  Pekiin,  which  contains  a 
score  of  families  of  Arabized  Jews  who  are  engaged  in 
agriculture,  and  are  hardly  to  be  distinguished  from  the 
Arabs.  Their  settlement  is  of  considerable  age,  and  it 
may  well  be  that  their  claim  to  be  directly  descended 
from  the  Jews  who  lived  in  the  land  at  the  opening  of 
the  Christian  era  is  well  founded. 

Hebron,  the  fourth  of  the  Holy  Cities,  is  the  only  one 
in  which  Jews  are  in  a  minority.  They  number  only 
a  thousand  to  fifteen  hundred  out  of  a  total  population 
of  20,000.  As  the  burial-place  of  the  Patriarchs  Hebron 
is  also  a  Mohammedan  Holy  City,  and  as  such  is  a 
centre  of  fanaticism  from  which  the  Jews  suffer  greatly. 
Here  also  the  great  majority  of  the  Jews  are  dependent 
on  charity,  although  a  few  artisans  are  to  be  found 
among  them. 

Outside  of  these  four  towns  there  were  until  forty 
years  ago  very  few  Jews  in  Palestine.  James  Finn,  who 
was  British  Consul  at  Jerusalem  in  1852,  mentions  in 
his  "Stirring  Times"  that  Jews  used  sometimes  to  come 
from  Haifa  and  Nablous  (the  ancient  Shechem)  to  ob- 
tain his  advice  and  assistance.  The  latter  city  was  then, 
as  now,  the  centre  of  the  Samaritan  sect,  whose  ancient 
hostility  to  the  Jews  burnt  undiminished.  As  a  conse- 
quence Jewish  residents  at  Nablous  have  always  been 
few  in  number.  In  1888  there  were  a  hundred  and 
twenty  there  out  of  a  total  population  of  18,000.  In  the 
past  twenty  years  this  latter  number  has  increased,  but 


86  Palestine 

the  Jewish  population  remains  stationary.  The  Samari- 
tans, who  are  about  equal  in  number  to  the  Jews  in 
Nablais,  are  diminishing. 

The  Jews  of  Beyrout  numbered  about  a  thousand  in 
the  year  1880.  There  were  very  few  paupers  among 
them,  and  those  were  supported  by  their  Jewish  fellow- 
townsmen,  most  of  whom,  by  means  of  trade,  had  at- 
tained to  comfortable  positions.  Their  number  in- 
creased rapidly.  New-comers  came  at  first  from  other 
parts  of  Turkey,  and  later  also  from  Russia.  The  com- 
munity has  throughout  been  self-supporting  and  pros- 
perous, and  possesses  many  valuable  educational  and 
other  institutions.  By  1897  the  Jewish  population  had 
grown  to  2,500,  and  it  is  probable  that  now  it  numbers 
not  many  less  than  four  thousand. 

Sidon,  the  port  twenty  miles  to  the  south  of  Beyrout, 
has  about  eight  hundred  Jews,  the  most  comfortable  of 
whom  are  not  far  removed  from  a  state  of  poverty. 
Acre  has  now  about  fifty  Jews  out  of  a  total  population 
of  10,000.  This  number  shows  a  considerable  reduction 
on  previous  years,  due  to  emigration  to  Haifa.  Gaza, 
farther  south  also,  despite  its  long  Jewish  history,  has 
now  less  than  a  hundred  Jewish  inhabitants.  El  Arish, 
which  is  in  Egyptian  territory,  has  even  less. 

The  two  towns  in  Palestine  which  hold  out  the  great- 
est hope  for  the  Jews  of  Palestine  are  the  coast  towns  of 
Jaffa  and  Haifa.  The  one,  the  ancient  Joppa,  is  the 
port  of  Jerusalem  and  of  the  fertile  plain  of  Sharon, 
and  the  starting-point  of  the  railway  to  the  capital ;  the 
other,  beautifully  situated  on  the  Bay  of  Acre  at  the 
foot  of  Mount  Carmel,  is  the  port  of  Galilee  and  of  the 
fertile  plains  of  Trans-Jordania — already  connected  by 
railway  with  Damascus  and  the  Hedjaz  railway  running 


The  Other  Towns  87 

north  and  south,  and  within  the  last  few  months  with 
Jerusalem  also,  and  destined  by  nature  in  the  future  to 
be  one  of  the  great  ports  of  the  Eastern  Mediterranean. 
The  Jewish  community  of  Jaffa,  now  in  many  respects 
the  most  important  in  Palestine  and  Syria,  is  less  than 
a  century  old.  It  was  founded  by  a  handful  of  Alge- 
rian Jews,  who  were  shipwrecked  off  Haifa,  and  wan- 
dering to  Jaffa,  remained  there,  and  were  reinforced  a 
few  years  later  by  a  small  immigration  of  Ashkenazim 
from  Europe.  So  poor  was  the  community  then  and 
for  many  years  afterwards  that  it  could  not  afford  to 
purchase  a  cemetery,  and  had  to  send  its  dead  to  Jerusa- 
lem for  burial.  In  1880  the  Jews  of  Jaffa  numbered 
about  a  thousand,  one-fifteenth  of  the  total  population. 
They  were  for  the  most  part  very  poor,  and  although 
they  had  several  places  of  worship,  none  deserved  to  be 
dignified  by  the  title  of  synagogue.  By  1888  the  Jewish 
population  had  doubled.  Seven  years  later  the  Jewish 
position  had  been  so  strengthened  as  to  earn  from  a  vis- 
itor the  description  of  having  "become  almost  a  Hebrew 
port.  The  shop-fronts  are  crowned  by  Hebrew  names 
and  sign-posts.  The  market  is  a  Jewish  forum,  and  the 
very  infants  speak  Bible  Hebrew."  x  By  1900  the  popu- 
lation had  again  doubled.  The  most  remarkable  devel- 
opment, however,  is  that  which  has  taken  place  within 
the  last  few  years.  "With  the  assistance  mainly  of  the 
Anglo-Palestine  Company,  one  of  the  financial  instru- 
ment of  the  Zionist  Movement,  a  garden  suburb,  Tel 
Aviv,2  or  the  Hill  of  Spring,  has  grown  up  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood; and  if  its  recent  rate  of  extension  is  con- 
tinued, it  will  soon  reach  to  the  seashore.     Of  the  ten 

i  E.  N.  Adler,  "Jews  in  Many  Lands,"  p.  139. 
2  Vide  Ezekiel  iii.  15. 


88  Palestine 

thousand  Jews  of  Jaffa  more  than  a  quarter  have  settled 
in  this  new  suburb.  They  comprise  people  of  all  classes 
— artisans,  shopkeepers,  teachers,  engineers,  and  mem- 
bers of  the  learned  professions.  Hundreds  of  houses, 
all  surrounded  by  gardens,  have  been  erected  in  wide 
and  shaded  avenues.  The  building  society  principle 
has  been  adopted  in  advancing  the  money  for  the  erec- 
tion of  these  dwellings,  so  that  the  occupiers  will  in  due 
course  become  the  owners  of  their  homes.  The  public 
lighting  and  water-supply  are  on  the  best  European 
lines.  The  centre  of  the  suburb  is  the  excellent  Hebrew 
grammar  school,  whose  education  attracts  pupils  from 
Europe  and  Egypt,  as  well  as  from  the  Turkish  domin- 
ions. Its  leaving  certificate  is  accepted  as  the  equivalent 
of  matriculation  by  several  European  Universities. 
Other  educational  institutions  in  Jaffa  and  Tel  Aviv  com- 
prise kindergartens,  primary  and  secondary  schools,  a 
training  college  for  teachers,  and  a  school  of  music.  In 
all  these  Hebrew  is  the  language  of  instruction.  There 
are  also  literary,  musical,  dramatic,  and  scientific  soci- 
eties, a  public  library,  a  gymnastic  club — in  fact,  all  the 
concomitants  of  intellectual  communal  life  in  Europe. 

The  following  are  among  the  conditions  imposed  on 
settlers  in  this  garden  suburb :  ( 1 )  Every  house  must 
occupy  at  least  700  square  yards,  two-thirds  of  which  are 
to  be  devoted  to  garden.  (2)  The  minimum  width  of  a 
street  is  39  feet,  and  all  houses  must  stand  apart  from 
their  neighbours.  (3)  Provision  is  made  for  public  gar- 
dens, which  must  in  no  circumstances  be  built  upon. 
(4)  Certain  districts  only  are  reserved  for  shops.  (5) 
Every  male  inhabitant  has  to  take  his  turn,  in  company 
with  paid  watchmen,  in  police  duty. 

The  administration  of  Tel  Aviv  is  autonomous,  and  is 


The  Other  Towns  89 

similar  to  that  of  the  numerous  Jewish  agricultural 
colonies  which  have  sprung  up  throughout  the  country 
during  the  past  thirty  years. 

Tel  Aviv  is  the  finest  illustration  of  the  benefits  the 
recent  Jewish  colonization  of  Palestine  has  brought  to 
the  land.  The  traveller  on  his  first  arrival  has  at  hand 
both  this  splendid  Jewish  settlement  and  also  the 
squalid  Arab  streets  and  houses  which  were  character- 
istic of  the  country  before  the  Jews  arrived.  If  he 
wishes  to  compare  the  new  Jewish  settlements  with 
the  older  ones  he  can  judge  of  the  difference  between 
Tel  Aviv  and  Safed  or  Tiberias.  Such  a  comparison 
will  assure  him  that  if  the  Jewish  settlers  are  only  al- 
lowed freedom  to  develop  along  their  own  lines,  free 
from  all  external  interference,  there  need  be  no  fear  re- 
garding their  future  in  a  land  whose  present  prosperity, 
limited  as  it  is,  may  be  said  to  be  due  entirely  to  the 
exertions  of  the  Jewish  immigrants,  the  only  progressive 
element  of  any  size  in  the  country.  Ideally  situated, 
with  the  blue  sea  and  sunny  sky  of  the  Mediterranean 
stretching  out  far  beyond  the  horizon;  with  golden 
sands  extending  north  and  south,  farther  than  eye  can 
reach;  nestling  on  the  edge  of  the  fertile  Plain  of 
Sharon,  embedded  in  orange  groves  and  vineyards ;  with 
a  growing  population  of  sturdy  Jews  and  beautiful 
Jewesses,  possessing  all  the  advantages  of  town  and 
country  life,  enjoying  healthy  minds  as  well  as  healthy 
bodies — the  future  of  Jaffa,  whose  very  name  signifies 
" beautiful,"  is  indeed  full  of  promise. 

Haifa,  the  port  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Carmel,  is  less 
important  at  present  from  the  Jewish  point  of  view, 
although  its  situation  as  the  sea  gate  of  Damascus,  the 
Hauran  and  Trans-Jordania   generally,   points  to  the 


90  Palestine 

probability  that  it  will  one  day  become  commercially  the 
most  important  town  of  Palestine.  The  modern  Jewish 
community  of  Haifa  is  about  sixty  years  old.  In  the 
middle  of  the  last  century  there  were  only  seven  Jewish 
families  in  the  town,  but  shortly  afterwards  others  came 
from  Constantinople,  Smyrna,  Syria,  and  Morocco. 
Henceforward  the  Moroccan  element  has  always  been 
relatively  considerable.  By  1875  the  local  community 
had  grown  sufficiently  to  support  four  synagogues  and 
several  charitable  institutions.  The  community  was  in 
fact,  although  not  rich,  self-supporting,  and  was  able  to 
maintain  its  own  poor  without  any  assistance  from  out- 
side. The  immigration  which  set  in  at  the  beginning 
of  the  eighties  had  perhaps  an  earlier  and  more  marked 
effect  at  Haifa  than  in  any  other  of  the  towns.  Within 
a  few  years  the  town  had  grown  tenfold  in  size.  From 
an  Arab  village  similar,  except  in  situation,  to  other 
villages,  it  became  a  clean,  tidy  little  European  town, 
endowed  with  natural  beauties  of  which  many  a  larger 
and  more  prosperous  town  may  well  be  envious.  Haifa 
was  in  fact  admitted  to  be  the  most  spacious  and  tidiest 
town  in  all  Palestine,  and  the  prosperous  and  cheerful 
little  colony  of  Germans  from  Wurttemberg  who  had 
settled  at  a  distance  of  about  a  mile  many  years  earlier, 
added  to  the  attractiveness  of  the  town,  which  soon 
spread  over  the  intervening  ground.  The  new  Jewish 
colonists  came  for  the  most  part  from  Roumania.  They 
brought  with  them  a  standard  of  living  higher  than  that 
of  the  native  Jews,  but  it  was  not  long  before  the  latter 
rose  to  it.  The  new  standard  created  new  wants.  Shops 
were  soon  opened  to  satisfy  these,  and  thus  the  prosperity 
of  Haifa  and  of  its  population  of  all  creeds  rose.  In 
the  course  of  the  last  fifteen  years  the  population  of  the 


The  Other  Towns  91 

port  has  doubled;  that  of  the  Jewish  population  has 
increased  threefold.  The  number  of  inhabitants  now 
amounts  to  about  20,000,  about  one-fourth  of  whom  are 
Jews.  The  projected  establishment  of  a  garden  suburb, 
Herzliah,  on  lines  similar  to  those  of  Tel  Aviv,  and  the 
completion  of  a  Jewish  University  college,  rendered 
possible  by  the  munificence  of  a  few  wealthy  European 
and  American  Jews,  will  increase  vastly  the  importance 
of  Haifa  as  a  Jewish  centre  and  at  the  same  time  its 
importance  among  the  ports  of  the  Levant. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  EARLIER  COLONIZATION   PROJECTS 

Although  the  systematic  colonization  of  Palestine  by 
Jews  is  a  movement  of  less  than  forty  years'  duration 
and  in  fact  only  contemporary  with  the  latest  cycle  of 
Jewish  suffering  in  Russia,  the  Jews  of  Palestine  were 
not,  like  their  co-religionists  in  Europe,  divorced  from 
the  land  during  the  preceding  centuries.  There  is  no 
evidence  that  the  Jews  of  Palestine  were  ever  legally 
prohibited  from  engaging  in  agriculture.  Insecurity  of 
life  outside  the  towns,  poverty  and  ignorance  of  agricul- 
ture, natural  in  an  immigrant  population  coming  from 
lands  in  which  settlement  outside  of  the  slums  of  the 
cities  was  forbidden,  were  the  principal  factors  in  keep- 
ing the  Jews  from  the  land  in  Palestine  during  the 
greater  part  of  the  Christian  era.  If,  however,  there  was 
no  systematic  colonization  of  the  land  by  Jews  through- 
out this  period,  it  must  not  be  taken  for  granted  that  the 
Jews  without  exception  left  the  cultivation  of  the  land 
enirely  to  their  neighbours.  There  is  plenty  of  evidence 
of  the  pursuit  of  agriculture  by  Jews  throughout  the 
centuries  between  the  Roman  occupation  and  to-day. 
There  are  even  one  or  two  Jewish  villages  whose 
inhabitants  to-day  claim  a  continuous  history  extending 
far  back  into  the  past,  perhaps  to  the  time  when  Jews 
took  their  full  share  in  all  the  industries  of  the  land. 
There  is  Pekiin,  near  Safed,  whose  inhabitants,  Mis- 

92 


Earlier  Colonization  Projects  93 

ta'arbim  or  Arabized  Jews,  are  indistinguishable  from 
the  surrounding  native  population  except  in  their 
religious  practice.  They  are  now  few  in  number,  and 
many  have  emigrated  of  recent  years.  Those  who 
remain  are  still  agriculturists  as  their  ancestors  have 
been  for  innumerable  generations.  The  land  at  their  dis- 
posal is  barely  sufficient,  their  methods  are  primitive,  and 
their  material  condition  consequently  not  very  satisfac- 
tory. Of  recent  years  a  Rabbi  and  teacher  has  been  sent 
to  them  from  Safed  by  the  generosity  of  Baron  Edmund 
de  Rothschild,  but  the  boys  have  little  time  for  study, 
for  their  labour  is  required  in  the  fields.  The  Jews  of 
Pekiin  are  therefore  as  little  learned  as  prosperous,  but 
in  physique  they  show  that  health,  vigour,  and  sturdi- 
ness  are,  given  encouraging  conditions,  as  possible  to  the 
Jew  as  to  the  Gentile.  As  is  the  rule  in  most  village 
communities,  agriculture  is  supplemented  by  a  sub- 
sidiary industry — among  the  Jews  of  Pekiin,  shoe- 
making.  This  Jewish  village  was  mentioned  by  the  late 
Lord  Kitchener  when,  as  Lieutenant  Kitchener,  he  was 
engaged  on  the  Palestine  Survey. 

The  settlement  has  survived  until  the  present  day. 
Its  survival  is,  however,  an  accident,  an  exception  from 
the  rule  of  annihilation  which  overwhelmed  the  more 
widespread  Jewish  agricultural  activities  that  went 
under  in  the  course  of  one  or  other  of  the  vicissitudes 
which  would  have  destroyed  the  land  a  score  of  times  if 
it  were  possible  utterly  to  destroy  a  country.  When 
Benjamin  of  Tudela  and  Petachiah  of  Ratisbon  visited 
the  country  during  the  last  decades  of  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury, they  found  a  portion  of  the  small  Jewish  popula- 
tion engaged  in  agriculture.  Three  centuries  later 
grapes  and  cereals  were  being  cultivated  by  Jews  in  the 


94  Palestine 

neighbourhood  of  Gaza.  The  settlement  at  Tiberias, 
formed  by  Joseph  Nasi  at  the  end  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  was  mainly  an  agricultural  one,  and  there  is 
evidence  that  at  the  time  Jews  were  engaged  in  other 
parts  of  the  land  in  the  cultivation  of  cotton,  mulberries, 
and  vegetables,  and  in  the  breeding  of  silkworms  and 
bees. 

Europe  first  became  interested  in  the  agricultural 
employment  of  Jews  in  Palestine  about  the  time  of  the 
second  visit  of  Sir  Moses  Montefiore  early  in  1839.  The 
Scottish  divines  who  visited  the  country  in  1838  heard 
of  the  village  of  Bukeah  (otherwise  Pekiin),  near  Safed, 
where  a  few  families  of  Jews  were  living  like  Fellah 
agriculturists.  Montefiore,  who  displayed  much  states- 
manship in  his  treatment  of  Palestinian  Jewish  problems, 
strongly  favoured  the  employment  of  the  Jews  in  agri- 
culture. When  in  Safed  on  this  same  visit  he  found  the 
local  Jewish  population  anxious  to  find  employment  on 
the  land.  Some  of  them  had,  unaided,  attempted  to 
obtain  such  employment,  but  they  were  sorely  hampered 
by  lack  of  means  even  more  than  by  inexperience. 
Whatever  chance  of  success  these  handicaps  might  have 
left  to  their  efforts  was  destroyed  by  the  jealousy  and 
even  hostility  of  the  neighbouring  Moslems.  Montefiore 
had,  however,  considerable  hopes  of  success,  and  planned 
a  somewhat  ambitious  scheme.  Writing  in  his  dairy  at 
the  time,  he  said:  "From  all  information  I  have  been 
able  to  gather,  the  land  in  this  neighbourhood  appears 
to  be  particularly  favourable  for  agricultural  specula- 
tion. There  are  groves  of  olive-trees,  I  should  think, 
more  than  five  hundred  years  old,  vineyards,  much 
pasture,  plenty  of  wells  and  abundance  of  excellent 
water;  also  fig-trees,  walnuts,  almonds,  mulberries,  etc., 


Earlier  Colonization  Projects  95 

and  rich  fields  of  wheat,  barley,  and  lentils;  in  fact,  it 
is  a  land  that  would  produce  almost  everything  in 
abundance,  with  very  little  skill  and  labour.  I  am  sure 
if  the  plan  I  have  in  contemplation  should  succeed,  it 
will  be  the  means  of  introducing  happiness  and  plenty 
into  the  Holy  Land.  In  the  first  instance,  I  shall  apply 
to  Mohammed  (Mehemet)  Ali  for  a  grant  of  land  for 
fifty  years;  some  one  or  two  hundred  villages;  giving 
him  an  increased  rent  of  from  ten  to  twenty  per  cent., 
and  paying  the  whole  in  money  annually  at  Alexandria, 
but  the  land  and  villages  to  be  free,  during  the  whole 
term,  from  every  tax  or  rate  either  of  Pasha  or  governor 
of  the  several  districts;  and  liberty  being  accorded  to 
dispose  of  the  produce  in  any  quarter  of  the  globe.  This 
grant  obtained,  I  shall,  please  Heaven,  on  my  return  to 
England,  form  a  company  for  the  cultivation  of  the  land 
and  the  encouragement  of  our  brethren  in  Europe  to 
return  to  Palestine.  Many  Jews  now  emigrate  to  New 
South  Wales,  Canada,  etc. ;  but  in  the  Holy  Land  they 
would  find  wells  already  dug,  olives  and  vines  already 
planted,  and  a  land  so  rich  as  to  require  little  manure. 
By  degrees  I  hope  to  induce  the  return  of  thousands  of 
our  brethren  to  the  Land  of  Israel.  I  am  sure  they 
would  be  happy  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  observance  of 
our  holy  religion,  in  a  manner  which  is  impossible  in 
Europe." 

The  plan  was  favoured  by  the  governor  of  Tiberias, 
who  invited  Montefiore  to  settle  there  and  become  the 
head  of  the  proposed  colony.  The  representative  Jews 
of  Jerusalem  also  expressed  themselves  in  favour  of  the 
employment  of  their  people  in  agriculture,  a  proposal 
which  obtained  the  support  of  the  British  Consul  at 
Jerusalem.    Montefiore  left  Palestine  on  that  occasion 


96  Palestine 

full  of  schemes  for  the  welfare  of  his  people  in  the  Holy 
Laud.  On  his  return  journey  he  stayed  in  Egypt  in 
order  to  obtain  Mehemet  Ali  's  approval  of  his  proposals. 
Among  other  concessions  for  which  he  asked  were  per- 
mission for  land  and  villages  to  be  rented  on  a  lease  of 
fifty  years,  free  from  all  taxes  or  claims  of  governors, 
the  rent  to  be  paid  at  Alexandria;  permission  to  send 
people  to  assist  and  instruct  the  Jews  in  agriculture  in 
general,  and  in  the  cultivation  of  the  alive,  the  vine, 
cotton,  and  mulberries,  and  the  breeding  of  sheep,  in 
particular;  and  a  firman  to  establish  banks  at  Beyrout, 
Jaffa,  Jerusalem,  and  Cairo.  Mehemet  expressed  him- 
self sympathetically.  Every  effort  to  obtain  his  sanction 
in  writing,  however,  failed.  He  was  probably  most 
interested  in  the  proposal  to  establish  banks  with  a 
capital  of  a  million  pounds,  but  this  was  the  last  of  the 
concessions  for  which  Montefiore  asked.  The  whole 
promising  scheme  lapsed  finally  with  the  fall  of  Mehemet 
as  the  Lord  of  Syria. 

About  the  middle  of  last  century  some  Moroccan  Jews 
settled  at  Shafa'Amr  near  Nazareth,  and  cultivated  corn 
and  olives  there.  The  settlement  was  encouraged  and 
assisted  by  a  few  English  Jews  and  Christians,  but  the 
settlers  removed  before  long  to  Haifa,  where  they 
engaged  in  trade.  At  the  same  time,  the  first  American 
Consul  appointed  to  Jerusalem,  Warder  Cresson,  who 
on  adopting  Judaism  later  took  the  name  of  Michael 
Boaz  Israel,  was  becoming  ever  more  interested  in  the 
welfare  of  the  Jews  of  the  Holy  Land.  To  him  agricul- 
ture appeared  the  only  method  of  removing  the  intense 
poverty  which  he  saw  around  him  in  Palestine.  He 
devoted  his  private  fortune,  as  well  as  sums  placed  at 
his  disposal  by  public-spirited  Jews  in  America  and  in 


Breaking  the  Soil  A 


'■mm 

Thousand  Years 


Colonists  at  Work 


Earlier  Colonization  Projects  97 

Europe,  in  founding  an  agricultural  colony  in  the  Valley 
of  Raphaini,  not  far  from  Jerusalem.  Even  if  the 
human  material  available  had  been  satisfactory  sufficient 
means  were  not  forthcoming  to  assure  success.  Never- 
theless, it  was  long  before  Cresson  abandoned  hope,  if 
he  ever  did  so.  He  may  have  had  the  satisfaction  of 
knowing  that  although  his  colony  was  an  apparent 
failure,  that  and  other  similar  failures  were  the  seeds  out 
of  which  success  was  to  spring  in  the  not  distant  future. 

Still  earlier  Colonel  Gawler,  of  the  British  Army,  had 
formed  in  London  a  colonization  society  for  a  similar 
purpose,  but  the  disturbed  conditions  which  followed  the 
expulsion  of  Mehemet  Ali  from  Syria  were  an  insuper- 
able bar  to  success  at  that  time. 

In  the  meanwhile  Montefiore  had  by  no  means  aban- 
doned hope  of  obtaining  concessions  which  would  enable 
Jews  to  settle  on  the  land  in  Palestine.  On  the  occasion 
of  his  fourth  visit  to  the  East  in  1855  he  obtained  inter- 
views with  both  the  Sultan  and  the  British  Ambassador 
at  Constantinople,  Lord  Stratford  de  Redcliffe,  for  the 
furtherance  of  his  schemes.  Montefiore  also  approached 
Lord  Clarendon,  the  Foreign  Secretary,  in  London,  and 
a  few  months  later  Lord  Palmerston,  who  had  by  then 
become  Prime  Minister.  Both  were  sympathetic,  but 
the  times — the  period  of  the  Crimean  War — were  unpro- 
pitious,  and  Montefiore  received  no  support  from  the 
British  Government.  Nothing  daunted,  Montefiore  still 
determined  to  proceed  with  his  project  of  an  agricultural 
settlement  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Safed  and  Tiberias. 
Drought,  cholera,  pestilence,  civil  war,  and  other  mis- 
fortunes, however,  overtook  the  colonists,  to  ensure 
whose  success  in  the  first  instance  too  small  a  capital  had 
been  set  aside.    As  a  consequence,  this  experiment  also 


98  Palestine 

was  of  but  short  duration.  Nevertheless,  at  Bukeah 
were  sown  seeds  which  were  to  fructify  a  generation 
later,  while  so  far  as  the  people  themselves  were  con- 
cerned the  craving  for  an  agricultural  life  was  unabated, 
as  was  evidenced  by  the  petitions  Montefiore  received  on 
the  occasion  of  subsequent  visits  to  the  Holy  Land. 

In  Europe,  and  in  England  also,  the  subject  of  the 
settlement  of  Jews  in  Palestine  as  agriculturists 
remained  a  living  one,  and  interest  in  it  was  much 
encouraged  by  the  progress  of  the  colonies  of  Germans 
who  had  settled  near  Jaffa  and  near  Haifa.  The  Monte- 
fiore Testimonial  Fund,  an  institution  with  activities  in 
Palestine,  founded  in  1874  by  English  Jews  in  recogni- 
tion of  Sir  Moses  Montefiore 's  exertions  on  behalf  of  his 
co-religionists  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  found  itself 
unable  to  undertake  agricultural  work  in  Palestine, 
greatly  to  the  regret  of  the  philanthropist  whose  name 
the  institution  bore.  Another  English  institution,  the 
Palestine  Society,  a  non-sectarian  one,  had  no  such 
qualms.  The  leading  spirit  in  this  movement  was 
Colonel  Gawler,  who  had  by  no  means  been  dispirited  by 
the  failure  of  his  efforts  of  a  quarter  of  a  century  earlier. 
Out  of  the  Palestine  Society  developed  a  Palestine  Col- 
onization Fund,  in  the  activities  of  which  Jew  and  Chris- 
tian worked  side  by  side.  A  deputation  from  the  Society 
was  received  by  the  Turkish  Ambassador  in  London,  who 
informed  it  that  his  Government  would  welcome  settlers 
in  all  parts  of  the  Turkish  dominions,  who  might  either 
remain  under  the  protection  of  their  Consuls  or  become 
Ottoman  subjects.  In  the  latter  case  grants  of  land 
would  be  made  to  them.  Such  settlers  would  be  exempt 
from  all  taxation  for  a  period  of  twelve  years,  and  after 
twenty  years  would  have  complete  control  over  their 


Earlier  Colonization  Projects  99 

land,  with  the  right  to  dispose  of  it  if  they  so  wished. 
Among  the  privileges  granted  to  the  settlers  were  the 
power  of  electing  judicial  and  administrative  bodies  and 
collectors  of  tithes,  autonomy  for  religious  communities, 
and  freedom  to  hold  and  dispose  of  their  property. 
These  favourable  conditions  were  granted  on  the  author- 
ity of  the  Turkish  Government.  Yet  they  did  not  meet 
with  any  appreciable  response.  The  difficulty  was  the 
disinclination  to  trust,  not  the  good-will,  but  the  power 
of  the  Turkish  Government.  The  Society,  and  the 
references  to  it  and  to  related  matters  which  frequently 
appeared  in  the  public  press,  served  to  keep  alive  an 
interest  in  the  subject  of  the  Jewish  colonization  of 
Palestine. 

This  interest  was  by  no  means  peculiar  to  England, 
although  outside  of  Jewish  circles  it  is  in  Great  Britain 
mainly  that  the  settlement  of  Jews  in  Palestine  has  been 
looked  on  with  favour.  For  instance,  when  Montefiore 
was  in  Venice  in  1875,  he  recorded  in  his  diary  the  meet- 
ing with  a  Signora  Randegger-Friedenberg,  who  had  a 
proposal  for  the  establishment  of  an  agricultural  school 
for  girls  in  Palestine. 

Five  years  earlier  a  definite  undertaking  was  com- 
menced in  Palestine,  whose  activities  still  continue,  and 
have  had  a  direct  and  beneficent  effect  on  the  fortunes  of 
the  Jews  of  Palestine.  This  is  the  Agricultural  School, 
Mikveh  Israel  ("The  gathering  of  Israel"),  founded  by 
the  Alliance  Israelite  TJniverselle,  an  institution  for  the 
protection  and  improvement  of  the  Jews  in  general  and 
of  those  in  the  East  of  Europe  and  in  the  Moslem  lands 
in  particular.  The  impetus  for  the  foundation  of  the 
school  came  from  a  group  of  enlightened  Russian  Jews, 
prominent  among  whom  were   Hirsch  Kalischer,  and 


100  Palestine 

Elijah  Guttmacher,  who  foresaw  in  the  settlement  of  Jews 
in  Palestine  on  a  considerable  scale,  the  readiest  and 
most  promising  means  of  easing  the  situation  of  the  Jews 
in  the  Diaspora.  In  France  the  idea  was  accepted 
eagerly  by  Charles  Netter,  who  devoted  a  large  portion 
of  the  remaining  years  of  his  life  to  securing  the  success 
of  the  experiment.  A  grant  of  land  of  over  six  hundred 
acres  was  made  by  the  Turkish  Government  for  the 
purposes  of  the  school.  The  experiment  proved  a  suc- 
cess almost  from  the  day  of  its  opening.  There  were 
difficulties  at  first  in  obtaining  a  satisfactory  staff,  and 
also  in  a  certain  prejudice  against  it  on  the  part  of 
intensely  conservative  native  Jews.  At  a  later  date  the 
language  question  led  to  trouble,  the  local  people  being 
desirous  of  replacing  French,  the  language  of  the  school, 
by  Hebrew.  These  difficulties  were  in  due  course  over- 
come. The  school  had  at  one  time  over  two  hundred 
pupils.  Hebrew  is  now  the  language  of  the  school  which 
has  recently  undergone  a  complete  re-organization.  All 
branches  of  agriculture  and  horticulture  are  taught 
there,  even  stockbreeding  and  silkworm-raising.  For 
many  years  past  the  school,  which  has  by  now  attracted 
around  itself  a  small  Jewish  colony,  has  supplied  expert 
gardeners  and  teachers  of  agriculture  to  all  parts  of  the 
Near  East,  to  Moslem  as  well  as  to  Jewish  employers. 
In  fact,  Mikveh  Israel  is  justified  in  calling  itself  the 
foster-mother  of  the  numerous  Jewish  agricultural  col- 
onies which  have  sprung  into  being  in  Palestine  in  the 
course  of  the  past  thirty  years. 

A  far  more  ambitious  project  was  that  of  Laurence 
Oliphant,  who,  after  many  wanderings  and  adventures 
in  all  parts  of  the  world,  suddenly  in  1879  adopted  a 
scheme  for  a  large  Jewish   agricultural  settlement  in 


Earlier  Colonization  Projects  101 

Palestine.  He  had  developed  the  project  considerably 
before  his  first  visit  to  the  Holy  Land.  It  was,  in  his  own 
words,  "To  obtain  a  concession  from  the  Turkish  Gov- 
ernment in  the  northern  and  more  fertile  half  of  Pales- 
tine, which  the  recent  survey  of  the  Palestine  Explora- 
tion Fund  proves  to  be  capable  of  immense  development. 
Any  amount  of  money  can  be  raised  upon  it,  owing  to 
the  belief  which  people  have  that  they  would  be  fulfilling 
prophecy  and  bringing  on  the  end  of  the  world.  I  don 't 
know  why  they  are  so  anxious  for  this  latter  event,  but 
it  makes  the  commercial  speculation  easy,  as  it  is  a  com- 
bination of  the  financial  and  sentimental  elements  which 
will,  I  think,  ensure  success.  And  it  will  be  a  good 
political  move  for  the  Government,  as  it  will  enable  them 
to  carry  out  reforms  in  Asiatic  Turkey,  provide  money 
for  the  Porte,  and  by  uniting  the  French  in  it,  and 
possibly  the  Italians,  be  a  powerful  religious  move 
against  the  Russians,  who  are  trying  to  obtain  a  hold  of 
the  country  by  their  pilgrims.  It  would  also  secure  the 
Government  a  large  religious  support  in  this  country,  as 
even  the  Radicals  would  waive  their  political  in  favour  of 
their  religious  crotchets.  I  also  anticipate  a  very  good 
subscription  in  America."  The  project  had  the  unoffi- 
cial approval  of  the  Prime  Minister,  Lord  Beaconsfield, 
and  of  the  Foreign  Secretary,  Lord  Salisbury. 

Oliphant's  first  business  on  reaching  Palestine  was  to 
explore  the  country  in  order  to  find  a  suitable  site  for  his 
colony.  This  he  chose  to  the  east  of  the  Jordan,  near 
the  upper  end  of  the  Dead  Sea,  a  region  of  remarkable 
fertility,  but  perhaps  somewhat  too  tropical  for  immi- 
grants from  the  more  temperate  regions  of  the  East  of 
Europe.  This  difficulty  did  not,  however,  occur  to 
Oliphant,  whose  mind  was  captured  by  the  luxuriant 


102  Palestine 

vegetation,  the  great  industrial  possibilities,  and  the 
beauty  and  magnificence  of  the  region  which  he  had  dis- 
covered. Since  leaving  England  he  had  been  still  fur- 
ther encouraged  in  his  project  by  the  success  of  Jews 
as  agriculturists  in  Russia,  Galicia,  and  North  Africa, 
and  above  all  in  Palestine  itself,  where  he  mentioned  in 
particular  the  success  of  fifty-five  Jewish  families  which 
had  then  but  recently  settled  at  Lydda,  near  Jaffa.  A 
number  of  Roumanian  Jews,  who  were  suffering  very 
severely  at  the  hands  of  the  Roumanian  Government, 
despairing  of  their  native  land,  had  about  that  time 
formed  a  Society  for  the  Colonization  of  the  Holy  Land. 
They  had  some  capital,  but  no  experience,  and  appealed 
to  the  Jewish  Board  of  Deputies  in  London  to  assist  them 
to  settle  in  Palestine.  The  negotiations  were  somewhat 
protracted,  and  led  to  no  result  in  so  far  as  the  London 
Board  was  concerned.  They,  however,  encouraged  Oli- 
phant  in  his  scheme,  which  also  gained  the  approval  of 
King  Edward,  then  Prince  of  Wales,  and  of  the  French 
Government.  Unfortunately  the  year  1880  saw  a  change 
of  government  in  England,  and  the  sympathy  of  the 
Conservative  leaders  was  not  continued  by  their  Liberal 
successors. 

The  change  of  government  in  London  had  its  reaction 
in  Constantinople.  Hitherto  the  proposals  had  found 
some  favour  with  both  the  Sultan  and  his  Government, 
and  Oliphant's  only  complaint  was  of  the  vis  inertice 
which  had  for  long  rendered  patience  so  valuable  at  Con- 
stantinople. In  fact,  a  charter  for  a  colonization  com- 
pany, drawn  up  by  Oliphant,  had  been  submitted  to  the 
Porte,  and  elaborated  and  amended  by  the  latter 's  legal 
advisers  so  as  to  safeguard  the  interests  which  to  them 
seemed  supreme.     So  far  had  the  negotiations  proceeded. 


Earlier  Colonization  Projects  103 

The  accession  of  Gladstone  to  power,  however,  changed 
the  entire  situation.  Turkey  immediately  became  suspi- 
cious of  every  English  project,  and  if  Oliphant's  scheme 
had  previously  had  a  prospect  of  success,  that  prospect 
was  utterly  destroyed  by  the  polls  in  the  English 
boroughs.  Oliphant  's  dream  of  a  prosperous  and  happy 
Jewish  population  in  Palestine,  loyal  to  the  Ottoman 
Government,  which  on  its  part  would  profit  both  by  the 
prosperity  of  the  land  and  the  loyalty  of  its  inhabitants, 
and  also  in  the  protection,  so  far  as  that  region  was  con- 
cerned, from  external  enemies,  which  it  would  derive 
from  the  active  sympathy  of  Great  Britain,  faded  away 
like  a  mirage. 

Oliphant's  scheme  did  not  stand  alone.  He  was  an 
idealist  and  a  dreamer.  Cazalet,  a  contemporary,  who 
also  published  in  1879  a  scheme  for  the  resettlement  of 
the  Jews  in  Palestine,  was  of  a  different  character.  A 
man  of  affairs  and  an  industrialist,  he  had,  while  further- 
ing his  projects  in  Russia,  come  into  contact  with  the 
Jews  there.  His  intercourse  with  them  assured  him  of 
the  necessity  of  efforts  to  relieve  the  endless  agony  under 
which  they  were  living,  and  also  of  the  magnificent 
material  they  could  offer  for  the  industrial  development 
of  Palestine.  Satisfied  on  these  two  points,  he  launched 
a  scheme  for  the  institution  of  a  British  protectorate  of 
Palestine,  on  lines  practically  identical  with  those  which 
were  a  few  years  later  applied  to  Egypt,  and  the  settle- 
ment of  large  numbers  of  Jews  who,  with  the  assistance 
of  capital  privately  subscribed,  would  assure  the  indus- 
trial regeneration  of  the  country.  All  that  was  required 
of  the  British  nation  was  the  protectorate  and  the  supply 
of  the  nucleus  of  a  government.  To  secure  the  per- 
manence of  the  British  protectorate,  Cazalet  pressed  for 


104  Palestine 

the  building  under  British  auspices  of  a  great  work  such 
as  a  railway  to  the  Euphrates,  which  would  at  the  same 
time  provide  employment  for  a  large  number  of  Jewish 
artisans,  and  thus  encourage  their  immigration.  As 
another  influence  to  attract  a  permanent  Jewish  settle- 
ment of  the  right  character,  he  advocated  the  establish- 
ment in  Palestine  of  a  college  or  University  which  should 
serve  as  a  centre  of  Jewish  philosophy  and  science. 
"Nobody,"  concluded  Cazalet,  "who  has  any  knowledge 
of  the  Jewish  character  can  for  a  moment  doubt  that  if 
the  Jews  were  restored  to  their  country  under  an  English 
protectorate,  they  would  prove  true  to  our  nation,  and 
that  Syria  would  become  as  firmly  united  to  England 
as  if  it  were  peopled  by  our  countrymen." 

The  projects  of  Oliphant  and  of  Cazalet  to  a  large 
extent  supplemented  one  another.  They  were  involved 
in  a  common  fate. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  COLONIZATION  OF   PALESTINE 

From  the  foregoing  chapter  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
project  of  the  resettlement  of  the  Jews  in  Palestine  was 
one  that  had  exercised  the  minds  of  statesmen  and 
philanthropists,  of  practical  men  and  of  dreamers,  for 
half  a  century  or  more  before  any  practical  step  was 
taken.  It  is  probable  that  this  theoretical  period  would 
have  lasted  very  much  longer  if  the  course  of  events  in 
Eastern  Europe  had  not  made  the  question  of  Jewish 
migration  once  more  a  very  practical  one.  An  outburst 
of  intense  persecution  in  Russia  and  Roumania  in  the 
late  seventies  and  early  eighties  of  last  century  raised 
to  torrential  force  the  intermittent  stream  of  Jewish 
wandering.  Jews  by  the  tens  of  thousands  fled  from 
Russia  and  from  Roumania.  The  flow  was  almost  entirely 
westwards,  to  Germany,  to  England,  to  France,  and  to 
America.  A  small  part,  composed  to  a  great  extent  of 
students  and  other  young  intellectuals,  whose  gradual 
assimilation  and  absorption  into  the  general  population 
had  been  suddenly  interrupted  by  the  outbreak  of  Anti- 
Semitism,  looked  towards  Palestine  rather  than  towards 
Europe  or  the  New  "World.  Influenced  by  the  Zionistic 
writings  of  Kalischer  and  Hess  and  others  of  their  school, 
they  dreamt  not  of  a  land  of  refuge  for  the  individual, 
but  of  a  haven  for  the  Jewish  nation,  of  a  centre  where 

105 


106  Palestine 

free  Jews  living  a  free  life  would  combine  to  preserve 
their  joint  heritage,  to  restore  health  to  the  Jewish  spirit 
which  had  been  battered  and  bruised  during  nearly  two 
thousand  years  of  oppression  and  persecution.  They 
looked  forward  to  the  creation  of  a  centre  whence  Juda- 
ism and  the  Jewish  spirit,  reinvigorated  by  the  air  of 
freedom,  would  breathe  fresh  life  into  the  weakened  and 
declining  Judaism  of  the  Diaspora.  In  short,  they 
longed  for  the  re-creation  of  the  Jewish  nation  in  a 
Jewish  land.  Striving  towards  this,  a  band  of  pioneers 
left  Russia  and  Roumania  to  start  the  Jewish  coloniza- 
tion of  Palestine,  to  turn  the  first  sods  preparatory  to 
digging  the  foundations  of  the  new  Judasa. 

The  first  of  the  agricultural  colonies  was,  however, 
settled  by  seven  Jews  from  Jerusalem.  They  acquired 
land  about  ten  miles  inland  from  Jaffa,  and  made  their 
homes  on  sites  which  are  now  included  in  Petach  Tikvah 
(The  Gate  of  Hope),  now  the  largest  of  the  Jewish  agri- 
cultural colonies  in  Palestine.  The  first  years  of  Petach 
Tikvah  were  not  fortunate.  The  colonists  had  plenty 
of  zeal,  but  little  practical  experience.  The  original 
situation  was  unhealthful,  and  malaria  made  severe 
ravages  among  them.  As  a  consequence  the  settlers 
were  soon  compelled  to  remove  their  homes  to  a  healthier 
site  a  short  distance  away,  at  Jehudieh,  but  they  con- 
tinued to  cultivate  their  lands.  Moreover,  the  available 
capital  of  the  colonists  was  insufficient.  It  is  not  sur- 
prising, therefore,  that  this  first  attempt  proved  a 
failure.  The  present  Petach  Tikvah  may  be  said  to  be 
separate  and  distinct  from  the  colony  founded  in  1878. 
About  the  same  time  some  of  the  more  progressive  Jewish 
families  of  Safed  founded  a  settlement  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  that  town.     They  had  opposed  to  them  the  full 


Its  Colonization  107 

force  of  the  conservative  school  in  Jewry,  which  was, 
and  is,  exceptionally  strong  in  Safed,  and  considers  all 
progress  heresy.  This  and  other  difficulties  proved 
insuperable,  and  the  settlement  did  not  prosper.  About 
the  same  period  one  of  the  wealthier  inhabitants  of 
Jerusalem  had  acquired  an  estate  in  the  neighbourhood 
which  he  proposed  to  cultivate.  These  represented  the 
whole  of  the  agricultural  activities  of  the  Jews  of  Pales- 
tine in  the  year  1880,  when  the  great  migration  from 
Russia  had  not  yet  commenced.  Poor  as  they  were,  they 
yet  inspired  an  Anglo-Jewish  traveller,  Sydney  Samuel, 
who  was  in  Palestine  in  that  year,  to  a  prophecy  which 
cannot  be  said  to  have  lacked  fulfilment:  "In  these 
colonies  a  far-seeing  eye  may,  perhaps,  discern  the 
Shadow  of  the  Coming  Restoration.  At  any  rate,  their 
encouragement  will  do  much  to  promote  the  firm  occupa- 
tion of  the  land  by  the  Jews." 

The  Colonization  Movement  commenced  in  full  force 
in  the  year  1882.  Among  the  refugees  were  seventeen 
Russian  Jews  who  settled  on  the  site  of  the  Biblical 
En-Hakkore,  the  scene  of  one  of  Samson's  exploits,  about 
an  hour  and  a  half's  journey  south-east  of  Jaffa,  now 
known  as  Rishon  le  Zion  (The  First  in  Zion),  perhaps 
the  best-known  of  the  colonies.  These  colonists  were 
members  of  the  Bilu,  an  organization  of  Russo-Jewish 
students  formed  for  the  colonization  of  the  Holy  Land. 
The  first  of  the  Bilu  unions  was  formed  at  Charkow,  and 
Rishon  le  Zion  was  the  first  of  their  settlements.  The 
immigrants,  although  members  of  the  learned  professions 
and  graduates  of  Universities,  worked  on  the  land  as 
common  labourers,  so  intense  was  their  zeal  for  the 
colonization  of  Palestine,  so  steadfast  their  faith  in  ulti- 
mate success.     Gradually  these  Bilu  settlers  became  ab- 


108  Palestine 

sorbed  in  other  colonies  as  they  came  into  existence,  or, 
built  up  colonies  of  their  own. 

At  the  same  time  refugees  from  Koumania,  where  a 
severe  social  and  political  persecution  had  set  in,  began 
to  arrive  in  Palestine.  They  settled  further  north,  at 
Zammarin,  now  known  as  Zichron  Jacob  (The  Memorial 
of  Jacob — i.e.,  the  father  of  Baron  Edmund  de  Roths- 
child) in  Samaria,  and  at  Rosh  Pinah  (The  Cornerstone) 
in  Galilee.  These  colonists  were  assisted  out  of  a  fund 
raised  in  Roumania  for  the  settlement  of  Roumanian 
Jews  in  Palestine.  The  story  of  the  foundation  of 
Zichron  Jacob  is  a  romantic  and  chequered  history.  The 
arrival  of  the  colonists  in  Palestine  was  attended  by  the 
severest  hardships,  privations  and  drawbacks.  Their 
agents,  who  had  been  sent  in  advance  to  purchase  the 
land  for  the  colony,  had  allowed  themselves  to  be  cheated. 
Bribes  and  baksheesh  had  absorbed  a  large  portion  of 
the  funds  with  which  they  had  been  entrusted.  As  a 
consequence,  when  the  settlers  arrived  at  Haifa,  twenty- 
three  miles  from  their  destination,  they  found  themselves 
homeless,  penniless,  and  destitute.  They  were,  however, 
not  friendless.  Laurence  Oliphant  was  at  that  time  at 
Haifa.  He  came  to  the  assistance  of  the  immigrants, 
supported  them  for  a  time  out  of  his  own  purse,  aided 
them  in  the  negotiations  which  preceded  their  settle- 
ment on  their  land,  interested  friends  in  Europe,  and 
above  all  Baron  Edmund  de  Rothschild,  of  Paris,  in  their 
welfare.  As  a  consequence  Zichron  Jacob  became  in  a 
few  years  the  centre  of  a  happy,  self-supporting  com- 
munity, one  of  the  most  prosperous  and  largest  in  Pales- 
tine, the  model  of  what  a  Jewish  colony  can  be. 

Contemporary  with  these  two  Jewish  movements 
emanating  from  Russia  and  Roumania  was  the  establish- 


Its  Colonization  109 

ment  of  the  Society  for  the  Relief  of  Persecuted  Jews,  or 
the  Syrian  Colonization  Fund,  under  the  presidency  of 
Lord  Shaftesbury.  This  was,  as  has  already  been 
mentioned,  a  development  of  the  work  of  Mrs.  Finn,  who 
had  many  years  previously,  when  her  husband  was 
British  Consul  at  Jerusalem,  been  the  first  to  give 
employment  to  the  Jews  of  Jerusalem.  Its  purpose  was 
to  use  Mrs.  Finn's  original  institution,  "Abraham's 
Vineyard, "  as  a  training-school  for  agricultural  colonists, 
to  fit  the  workers  to  become  farmers  and  agriculturists, 
and  to  settle  on  the  land.  The  task  was  a  considerable 
one,  and  adequate  means  were  not  forthcoming.  The 
Syrian  Colonization  Fund  was  therefore  a  hope  rather 
than  an  accomplishment.  It  occupies  a  place,  however, 
in  the  history  of  the  return  of  the  Jews  to  Palestine. 

The  colonies  which  had  in  the  meanwhile  been  estab- 
lished by  the  Russian  and  Roumanian  refugees  found 
their  position  very  critical.  Almost  completely  lacking 
in  experience,  with  moderate  means,  and  also  to  some 
extent  objects  of  suspicion  to  the  Government  of  the 
land  and  to  the  surrounding  population,  it  is  probable 
that  if  they  had  remained  unaided  the  experiment  which 
they  were  initiating  would  have  been  overwhelmed  in 
failure.  The  pioneers  in  Palestine,  however,  had  eager 
sympathizers  and  ardent  well-wishers  in  the  lands  from 
which  they  came.  Societies  sprang  into  existence  in 
many  of  the  Jewish  centres  of  Russia,  for  the  practical 
encouragement  and  assistance  of  the  colonists.  At  the 
same  time  other  societies  for  the  propagation  of  the 
nationalist  idea  in  Jewry  were  also  formed.  Of  all  these 
societies,  that  of  Odessa  was  the  most  important  and 
soon  became  the  leader.  Ultimately  they  all  became 
organized  as  the  Odessa  Committee,  an  institution  whose 


110  Palestine 

valuable  work  in  and  for  Palestine  has  left  a  permanent 
mark  on  the  prosperity  of  the  land.  Before  that  time 
these  societies  formed  part  of  a  world-wide  movement 
which  became  known  as  the  Choveve  Zion  or  Lovers  of 
Zion. 

The  first  leaders  of  the  Choveve  Zion  movement  in 
Russia  were  Leo  Pinsker,  the  author  of  the  epoch- 
making  "Auto-Emancipation";  Rabbi  Samuel  Mohile- 
wer  of  Byalistok ;  Moses  Lilienblum,  the  man  of  letters ; 
Wolf  Wissotzky,  the  millionaire  philanthropist;  and 
S.  P.  Rabbinowitch,  the  historian.  By  November,  1884, 
the  movement  for  the  colonization  of  Palestine  was  suffi- 
ciently strong  to  justify  co-operation  between  the  many 
independent  societies  with  a  view  to  the  organization 
of  the  movement.  A  conference  of  representatives  of 
these  societies  was  accordingly  held  at  Kattowitz,  in 
Prussian  Silesia,  in  that  month.  From  this  conference 
may  be  dated  the  organized  world-wide  movement  for 
the  resettlement  of  the  Jews  in  Palestine.  The  confer- 
ence was  weak,  but  the  consciousness  of  its  weakness  did 
not  daunt  it.  It  immediately  took  steps  to  assist  the 
infant  colonies  that  had  not  yet  found  their  feet  in 
Palestine.  It  voted  money  for  the  provision  of  houses, 
implements,  wells,  etc.,  and  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
colonists  until  the  harvest.  At  the  same  time  five  young 
men  were  sent  by  the  Kattowitz  Conference  to  Zichron 
Jacob  to  study  agriculture  there.  A  second  conference 
was  held  in  1887,  at  which  it  was  decided,  among  other 
things,  if  possible  to  obtain  the  permission  of  the  Russian 
Government  for  the  establishment  of  an  official  Palestine 
Association,  and  for  the  creation  in  Palestine  of  an  office 
for  the  purchase  and  sale  of  land.  This  permission  was 
not  forthcoming,  and  as  a  consequence  the  work  of  the 


Its  Colonization  111 

organization  was  much  hampered.     A  third  conference 
of  the  Russian  Choveve  Zion  was  held  in  1889. 

The  Choveve  Zion  Movement  soon  spread  beyond 
Russia.  Besides  those  already  in  existence  in  Roumania, 
similar  societies  were  formed  in  Germany,  in  Austria,  in 
England,  and  in  the  United  States.  In  England  it  first 
manifested  itself  in  1885,  directly  or  indirectly  through 
the  agency  of  Russo-Jewish  refugees.  A  meeting  was 
held  in  London  in  that  year  for  the  purpose  of  founding 
a  society  for  the  promotion  of  the  Jewish  national  idea, 
and  for  the  establishment  of  Jewish  colonies  in  Palestine. 
The  meeting  had  no  immediate  practical  consequences. 
Two  years  later,  the  Kadimah,  a  London  society  of  a 
theoretical  rather  than  a  practical  character,  was 
founded.  The  Choveve  Zion,  as  a  practical  colonization 
movement,  was  not  established  in  England  until  early  in 
1890.  From  that  year  onwards,  the  movement  in  Eng- 
land continually  gained  strength,  until  the  greater 
Zionist  Movement  created  by  Theodore  Herzl  in  1896 
absorbed  it.  At  first  the  wealthier  classes  in  Anglo- 
Jewry  for  the  most  part  held  aloof,  and  for  some  time  it 
drew  practically  the  whole  of  its  strength  from  the  poorer 
and  foreign  elements  in  the  population.  There  were, 
however,  some  notable  exceptions,  and  the  interest 
increased  as  the  ideal  became  better  known  and  the  work 
more  effective.  Elim  d'Avigdor  and  his  kinsman 
Colonel  A.  E.  W.  Goldsmid  were  successively  the  heads 
of  the  movement;  and  among  their  most  energetic 
lieutenants  were  Mr.  Herbert  Bentwich  and  Mr.  Joseph 
Prag.  Other  well-known  English  Jews  who  took  a 
prominent  part  in  the  work  of  the  Choveve  Zion  were 
the  Rev.  S.  Singer,  Sir  Joseph  Sebag-Montefiore,  and  the 
late    Lord    Swaythling.     On    the    platform    of    these 


112  Palestine 

''Lovers  of  Zion"  were  also  to  be  found  at  oue  religious 
extreme  Dr.  Hermann  Adler,  and  at  the  other  Dr.  A. 
Lavy,  Sir  John  Simon  and  Sir  Julian  Goldsmid.  A 
young  Israel  was  represented  by  branches  of  the  Choveve 
Zion  formed  at  the  Universities  of  Oxford  and  Cam- 
bridge. The  English  Movement,  like  the  greater  one  in 
Russia,  devoted  much  of  its  resources  to  the  assistance 
of  the  existing  colonies,  but  in  addition  it  aided  in  the 
establishment  of  more  than  one  new  one. 

At  length,  in  February,  1890,  the  Russian  Government 
approved  the  formation  of  a  "Society  for  the  Relief  of 
Jewish  Agriculturists  and  Artisans."  In  this  body, 
which  became  known  as  the  Odessa  Committee,  the 
Choveve  Zion  societies  of  Russia  were  merged.  Under 
the  presidency  of  Pinsker,  it  entered  upon  a  career  of 
great  activity.  An  executive  was  installed  at  Jaffa. 
Renewed  attention  was  given  to  the  colonies  in  which 
the  Choveve  Zion  had  been  interested,  and  additional 
ones  were  taken  under  the  protection  of  the  new  organiza- 
tion. This  work  and  that  which  arose  immediately  out 
of  it  monopolized  the  resources  of  the  Committee. 
Houses,  water-supply,  drainage,  afforestation,  capital — 
all  were  needed,  and  had  to  be  supplied.  Then  came  the 
demand  for  schools,  libraries,  hospitals,  and  other  similar 
institutions.  The  function  of  the  Odessa  Committee  was 
to  satisfy  these,  and  further  extensions  had  to  be  left 
to  other  bodies  and  individuals.  In  the  meanwhile  dif- 
ficulties arose  both  in  Russia  and  in  Palestine.  A 
recrudescence  of  persecution  in  the  former  country 
affected  the  relationship  between  the  Government  and 
the  Odessa  Committee,  and  caused  the  latter  to  be  much 
hampered.  It  also  set  in  force  another  wave  of  emigra- 
tion, some  ripples  of  which  found  their  way  to  Palestine. 


Its  Colonization  113 

These  latter  emigrants  were  encouraged  by  a  number  of 
irresponsible  societies  and  bodies  which  wanted  also  to 
share  in  the  colonization  of  the  Holy  Land,  but  whose 
capacities  fell  far  short  of  their  ambitions.  The  evil  of 
land-speculation,  with  its  undesirable  accompaniments, 
also  appeared  upon  the  scene.  Money  was  wasted; 
unsuitable  immigrants  were  sent  to  Palestine,  and  hard- 
ship to  individuals  and  harm  to  the  general  welfare 
followed.  The  unfortunate  state  of  affairs  which  began 
to  arise  attracted  the  attention  of  the  Turkish  Govern- 
ment, which,  in  order  to  put  an  end  to  the  evils, 
determined,  in  true  Turkish  fashion,  to  prohibit  the 
immigration  of  Russian  Jews  or  the  purchase  of  land  by 
them.  The  Turkish  authorities  were,  in  fact,  nervous 
of  the  intervention  of  the  Russian  Consuls  in  Palestine 
on  behalf  of  their  Jewish  nationals  there. 

In  the  meanwhile  the  Choveve  Zion  in  England  had 
been  continuing  on  its  course.  It  presented  a  petition  to 
the  Porte,  which  was  actively  supported  by  both  the  out- 
going Foreign  Secretary  (Lord  Salisbury)  and  his  suc- 
cessor (Lord  Roseberry),  and  had  also  the  practical  sym- 
pathy of  the  United  States  Minister  to  Turkey.  The 
restrictions  on  the  purchase  of  land  were  soon  removed, 
through  the  influence  of  Baron  Edmund  de  Rothschild, 
of  Paris,  as  well  as  of  the  British  and  American  Foreign 
Offices,  and  in  1892  the  English  society  joined  forces 
with  its  co-workers  in  Ekaterinoslaw  and  New  York  to 
acquire  land  in  the  Hauran,  east  of  the  Jordan.  After 
the  set-back  in  1891  the  organization  of  the  Russian 
Society  had  been  improved.  About  the  same  time,  in 
1893,  the  whole  of  the  movement  throughout  the  world 
was  brought  into  closer  co-operation  by  the  formation 
of  a  central  representative  committee  at  Paris,  at  the 


114  Palestine 

instance  of  the  eminent  Russo-Jewish  physicist  Dr. 
Waldernar  Haffkine,  who  was  then  resident  in  Paris. 
The  reorganization  was  followed  by  the  adoption  of  a 
new  policy — the  foundation  of  a  model  colony,  Castinieh, 
whose  inhabitants  were  drawn  not  from  the  inexpe- 
rienced town-dwellers  of  Europe,  but  from  colonists  who 
had  already  served  their  apprenticeship  in  other  Pales- 
tinian colonies.  The  advent  of  Theodore  Herzl  and  his 
new  Zionist  Movement  practically  absorbed,  though  it 
did  not  destroy,  that  of  the  Chovev  Zion  outside  of 
Eussia,  and  largely  reduced  the  number  of  its  adherents 
within  that  empire.  Its  separate  activities  have,  how- 
ever, by  no  means  ceased.  They  are  engaged  now  prin- 
cipally in  the  direction  and  organization  of  education  in 
Palestine,  and  in  work,  such  as  the  encouragement  of 
artisan  settlements,  garden  cities,  etc.,  for  which  no  other 
institutions  specifically  exist.  The  German  branch  of 
the  movement,  the  Ezra  Society,  has  also  continued  in 
operation  until  the  present  day,  but  it  confines  its 
activities  to  tasks  of  detail  such  as  the  care  of  the  health 
of  the  settlers  in  Palestine. 

The  movement  for  the  restoration  of  the  Jews  to  Pales- 
tine, whatever  success  it  may  attain  in  the  future,  can 
never  repay  the  debt  which  it  owes  to  the  Choveve  Zion 
and  to  their  leaders.  Without  the  encouragement  and 
assistance  of  that  organization,  many  of  the  colonies 
would  never  have  survived  their  first  years.  Like  chil- 
dren, they  needed  protection  and  guidance.  The 
Choveve  Zion  came  into  existence  to  supply  those  neces- 
sities, to  fill  the  place  of  guardian  and  helper.  And  as 
each  colony  progressed  sufficiently  to  be  able  to  assist 
itself,  to  stand  alone  and  to  supply  its  own  needs,  the 
control  and  direction  were  gradually  withdrawn.     Dur- 


Its  Colonization  115 

ing  the  first  years  the  organization  was  always  at  hand, 
but  the  object  of  the  training  which  it  gave — self- 
dependence^ — was  never  forgotten,  and  even  after  the 
necessity  for  all  direct  assistance  had  passed,  the  organ- 
ization was  always  ready  to  render  advice  whenever 
required. 

The  Choveve  Zion  was,  however,  as  has  been  explained, 
a  federation  of  societies  each  consisting  of  hundreds  of 
members.  The  work  performed  by  it  therefore  repre- 
sented the  Palestinian  efforts  of  thousands  of  European 
and  American  Jews.  The  whole  of  the  beneficent  work 
of  the  Choveve  Zion  in  Palestine  has  been  equalled — nay, 
in  a  sense  exceeded — by  that  of  one  individual,  a  prince 
among  philanthropists,  but  one  who  did  not  subordinate 
his  head  to  his  heart,  as  so  many  philanthropists  do  who 
devote  their  millions  to  performing  the  task  of  Sisyphus. 
He  is  also  a  statesman  among  philanthropists,  one  whose 
good  deeds  have  of  themselves  multiplied  a  hundred  times 
in  his  own  lifetime,  and  scattered  the  seeds  and  the 
fruits  of  his  beneficent  actions  and  labours  throughout 
the  length  and  breadth  of  Palestine.  This  builder  of  the 
future  Jewish  State  in  Palestine  is  Baron  Edmund  de 
Eothschild,  of  Paris.  "The  Baron,"  as  he  is  called 
throughout  Jewry,  had  his  attention  first  drawn  to  the 
possibility  of  the  colonization  of  Palestine  by  Laurence 
Oliphant,  when  the  latter  was  seeking  means  for  the 
assistance  of  the  Roumanian  immigrants  whom  he  had 
taken  under  his  protection  at  Haifa.  Rishon  le  Zion, 
Zichron  Jacob,  Petach  Tikvah,  one  embryonic  colony 
after  another,  the  Baron  took  under  his  care.  He  bought 
land  to  provide  for  the  growth  of  existing  colonies  and 
for  the  establishment  of  new  ones.  He  appointed  agents 
in  all  parts  of  the  land  to  assist  the  colonists,  and  allowed 


116  Palestine 

them  to  draw  upon  him  almost  without  limit.  He 
assisted  and  encouraged  the  colonists  to  introduce  new 
cultures ;  and  when,  as  in  the  case  of  wine,  he  found  that 
their  exertions  resulted  in  overproduction,  he  provided 
the  means  himself  for  the  purchase  of  their  produce  at  a 
price  which  would  afford  them  an  adequate  remunera- 
tion. Marsh  lands  were  drained  at  his  expense,  and 
eucalyptus-trees  planted.1  Wine-cellars,  with  all  the 
latest  machinery  for  the  manufacture  and  preservation 
of  wine,  have  been  provided  by  him.  Even  a  factory  for 
making  glass  bottles  was  established.  For  seventeen 
years  "the  Baron,"  supported  not  only  the  colonies 
Ekron  and  Metullah,  which  he  had  himself  planted,  but 
also,  at  one  time  or  another,  Rishon  le  Zion,  Petach 
Tikvah,  Chederah,  Zichron  Jacob,  Rosh  Pinah,  and  Yesod 
Hamaaleh.  Not  only  did  he  assist  the  colonists  when- 
ever they  needed  him.  He  bought  land  continually  in 
order  to  extend  their  holdings  and  to  enable  the  colonies 
to  expand.  When,  however,  Baron  Edmund  found  that 
the  assistance  he  was  rendering  to  the  colonists  was 
making  them  dependent  instead  of  self-reliant,  he  altered 
his  procedure.  He  transferred  the  administration  of  the 
colonies  to  the  Jewish  Colonization  Association,  the 
institution  formed  and  endowed  by  Baron  Maurice  de 
Hirsch  with  his  millions,  and  devoted  to  the  assistance 
of  Jewish  emigration  from  the  East  of  Europe,  and  to 
the  establishment  in  the  first  instance  of  Jewish  agricul- 
tural colonies  in  North  and  South  America.  The  lea, 
by  which  name  this  institution  is  known,  made  drastic 
reforms,  and  had  to  cope  with  several  difficult  situations. 

i  The  health-giving  and  rapidly-growing  eucalyptus  was  intro- 
duced into  Palestine  by  the  Jews,  and  is  known  among  the  Arabs 
as  the  "Jews'  Tree." 


Its  Colonization  117 

It  encouraged  other  forms  of  cultivation  besides  the  vine, 
and  in  the  course  of  four  years  reduced  the  production 
of  wine  by  two-thirds.  At  the  same  time  the  lea  assisted 
in  the  formation  of  a  society  for  the  manufacture  and 
disposal  of  this  produce  through  the  ordinary  market 
channels.  To  fit  the  colonists  for  the  new  conditions, 
their  holdings  were  enlarged  where  necessary.  The 
administration  of  the  lea  proved  successful.  The  colonies 
and  colonists  were  placed  on  their  feet,  and  in  many 
places  the  tutelage  and  support  of  the  lea  was  gradually 
withdrawn,  until  at  length  there  were  very  few  colonies 
that  still  needed  financial  assistance.  The  experiment 
initiated  by  the  Choveve  Zion  and  adopted  and  extended 
by  the  Baron  had  obtained  success.  A  number  of  self- 
supporting  prosperous  Jewish  agricultural  colonies  had 
been  established  in  the  Holy  Land.  The  Jew,  once  he 
had  been  granted  the  opportunity,  had  shown  himself 
capable  of  living  as  an  agriculturist,  without  sacrificing 
the  intellectual  position  which  is  his  heritage;  culture 
of  the  soil,  accompanied  by  culture  of  the  intellect,  may 
well  form  the  basis  of  a  nation. 

The  example  set  by  the  Rothschild  colonies  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  others.  The  lea  itself,  although  at  first  not 
very  favourably  disposed  towards  Palestinian  coloniza- 
tion, became  to  some  extent  infected  by  the  success  of  the 
colonies  which  had  been  entrusted  to  its  care  and 
extended  its  advice  and  assistance  to  other  colonies.  It 
even  acquired  land  of  its  own  near  Tiberias  and  settled 
Jewish  labourers  upon  it  with  a  view  to  their  becoming 
later  small  farmers.  A  proposal  was  made  in  the 
Council  of  the  lea  that  a  large  tract  of  Crown-lands  in 
the  Hauran  should  be  purchased,  but  the  opposition  of 
the  anti-Palestinians  was  too  strong  for  the  proposal  to 


118  Palestine 

be  adopted.  In  other  directions,  however,  the  lea  has 
devoted  much  attention  to  Palestine.  It  has  introduced 
many  industries — silk-weaving,  wool-weaving,  knitting, 
and  dyeing.  It  supplies  knitting-machines  to  poor 
families,  accepting  payment  from  them  in  instalments. 
It  acts  as  a  building  society  in  order  to  enable  shop- 
keepers, artisans,  and  others  of  moderate  means  to  acquire 
their  dwellings.  It  has  established  a  loan  bank  for  the 
same  class  of  client,  and  a  school  where  girls  are  taught 
lace-making. 

The  pioneer  Jewish  colonists  in  Palestine  were  at  first 
faced  by  difficulties  that  only  a  determination  inspired 
by  an  enthusiasm  which  was  both  a  religion  and  a  patriot- 
ism could  overcome.  Failure  and  disillusionment  were 
frequent,  and  many  of  the  weaker — in  spirit  or  in  body — 
of  the  colonists  succumbed  to  the  difficulties  which 
barred  their  way  to  success.  But  the  idea  was  far 
stronger  than  the  combined  strength  or  weakness  of 
individuals.  Individual  colonists  dropped  out  of  the 
contest,  but  the  colonies  persisted.  No  matter  how  bitter 
the  disappointments,  how  heart-rending  the  failures,  the 
spirit  of  the  Jewish  Revival  clung  to  the  land.  Ulti- 
mately the  confidence  in  the  future  overcame  the  despair 
of  the  present,  and  as  a  consequence  the  resettlement  of 
the  Jews  in  Palestine — a  movement  the  growth  of  which 
events  may  retard,  but  which  they  cannot  cause  entirely 
to  cease — has  commenced.  In  other  lands  colonies  have 
been  founded  by  men  and  women  bred  to  agriculture. 
With  very  few  exceptions  this  was  not  the  case  in  Pales- 
tine. The  colonists  came  from  a  people  which  had  been 
forcibly  excluded  from  the  land  for  centuries,  from  which 
the  artificial  conditions  in  which  it  lived  had,  it  was 
generally  considered,  permanently  eradicated  that  love 


Its  Colonization  119 

of  the  land  which  is  among  the  natural  instincts  of  a 
people.  So  deeply  had  the  iron  of  oppression  entered 
into  the  soul  of  Jewry  that  there  were  many  who  denied 
it  any  title  to  nationality  and  who  preferred  to  regard  it 
merely  as  a  race  or  a  religion.  The  Jew  was  considered 
essentially  a  townsman,  to  whom  the  life  of  the  country 
was  something  alien.  From  such  material  were  the 
pioneers  of  Palestine  colonization  drawn. 

The  number  of  mistakes  that  a  pedlar,  a  shopkeeper,  or 
a  student,  suddenly  planted  in  an  almost  virgin  country, 
would  make,  can  easily  be  conceived.  These  colonists, 
however,  met  with  difficulties  from  which  they  would 
have  been  free  if  they  had  settled  in  some  no-man's  land 
elsewhere.  The  land  they  purchased  was  in  many  cases 
unhealthful  or  otherwise  unsuitable  for  settlement,  and 
the  prices  they  paid  excessive.  Starvation  and  disease 
pounced  upon  them  as  easy  victims.  Of  the  conditions 
of  the  land,  and  of  the  language  of  the  natives,  the 
settlers  were  entirely  ignorant.  The  natives,  failing  to 
understand  them  or  the  objects  of  the  settlements,  grew 
suspicious  and  became  a  source  of  difficulty  and  some- 
times of  danger.  When  the  settlers  became  acquainted 
with  the  conditions  amid  which  they  found  themselves, 
they  learnt  that  their  task  was  to  introduce  Western 
methods  of  life  and  of  progress  into  a  land  and  a  people 
both  of  which  had  been  dormant  for  centuries,  which  the 
Oriental  spirit  of  indolence  and  fatalism  claimed  as  its 
own.  The  acquisition  of  land  was  beset  by  innumerable 
difficulties.  Ottoman  subjects  alone  were  permitted  to 
make  purchases,  and  the  new-comers  were  with  few  excep- 
tions aliens.  Plots  of  suitable  size  were  seldom  available. 
Even  when  the  preliminary  difficulties  were  overcome, 
it  was  often  found  necessary,  in  the  negotiations  for  a 


120  Palestine 

single  estate,  to  deal  with  a  host  of  vendors.  Among  the 
best  equipped  of  the  settlers  capital  was  scarce,  and  to 
obtain  any  in  the  land  itself  except  on  ruinous  terms, 
was  practically  impossible.  Misgovernment,  civil  and 
external  war,  extending  over  the  greater  part  of  two 
millenia,  had  even  gone  far  to  destroy  the  natural  fer- 
tility of  the  land,  and  to  interfere  with  the  supply  of 
water  on  which  the  land  depends.  Successive  armies,  of 
invaders  and  of  defenders,  had  to  a  very  large  extent 
denuded  the  land  of  the  forests  which  were  among  its 
natural  defenders  against  drought  and  sand.  The 
encroachments  of  the  desert  and  of  the  seashore  con- 
tinued from  year  to  year,  and  there  was  no  governor  to 
make  any  attempt  to  stay  them. 

One  by  one  these  difficulties  were  overcome,  or  were 
in  the  course  of  being  overcome,  when  the  outbreak  of 
war  put  the  results  of  a  generation's  laborious  toil,  of 
work  for  which  the  labourers  had  in  many  instances 
given  their  very  lives,  in  jeopardy.  Experience  in  due 
course  had  come  to  the  original  settlers  and  to  those 
who  followed  them.  The  prognostications  of  those  who 
thought  that  the  agricultural  instinct  had  been  entirely 
eradicated  from  the  Jew  of  the  Ghetto  had  been  falsified. 
The  undying  adaptability  of  the  Jew  had  displayed 
itself  in  Palestine  as  elsewhere.  The  child  of  the 
walled-in  alleys  of  the  Ghetto  had  become  the  child  of 
the  open  air,  of  the  green  and  golden  fields  and  the 
orchards  and  the  fruit  gardens,  of  the  blue  skies.  By 
the  establishment  of  banks  and  by  other  means  the 
capital  which  was  so  necessary  to  the  development  of 
the  colonies  had  been  forthcoming.  New-comers  with 
means  of  their  own  had  also  settled  in  the  land.  The 
unpleasant  attitude  adopted  by  the  native  Arabs  had 


A  Colonist's  House 


A  Street  in  Petach   Tikvah 


Its  Colonization  121 

soon  given  way  to  one  more  sympathetic.  They  had 
found  that  they  had  nothing  to  fear  from  the  new- 
comers; instead  of  losing  by  their  advent  they  would 
gain.  The  native  landowner  had  found  the  value  of  his 
land  increase ;  and  seeing  the  success  in  Jewish  hands  of 
new  methods  of  cultivation,  he  had  often  adopted  them 
to  his  own  advantage.  The  peasants  had  found  new  and 
remunerative  markets  for  their  labour,  and  profited  also 
to  some  extent  from  the  ideas  introduced  by  the  new- 
comers. These  latter  had  also  brought  with  them  new 
needs,  some  of  which  the  natives,  in  the  towns  as  well  as 
in  the  country,  were  able  to  satisfy.  Other  general 
improvements — for  instance  in  education,  in  sanitation, 
in  the  administration  of  justice,  in  the  making  of  roads — 
had  benefited  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  land,  Arab  as 
well  as  Jew.  As  a  consequence  of  all  these  advantages, 
friendliness  soon  took  the  place  of  the  suspicion  which 
the  first  arrivals  had  engendered,  and  the  native  recog- 
nized in  the  advent  of  the  Jewish  colonist  a  benefit  and 
not  a  disadvantage. 

In  the  earliest  days  of  the  colonies  much  use  was  made 
of  native  labour  both  in  the  preparation  of  the  land  for 
settlement  and  in  the  cultivation  of  it.  Arabs  are  still 
employed  in  many  of  the  settlements,  but  side  by  side 
with  them  has  grown  up  a  class  of  Jewish  labourers 
distinct  from  the  colonists  who,  on  their  part,  occupy 
the  position  of  farmers.  These  labourers,  however, 
advance  in  the  social  scale,  and  in  due  course  become 
colonists  themselves.  They  are  recruited,  not  only  from 
Europe,  but  also  from  the  cities  of  Palestine,  from  among 
a  population  whose  greatest  misfortune  is  a  chronic 
unemployment.  The  increase  in  this  labouring  class,  the 
facility  with  which  they  learn  the  work  entrusted  to 


122  Palestine 

them,  the  intelligence  and  zeal  with  which  they  perform 
their  tasks,  all  tend  to  augment  the  value  of  this  class  in 
the  population.  Intellectually  and  educationally,  they 
are  far  superior  to  similar  classes  in  other  countries.  In 
breadth  of  outlook  and  in  ambition,  too,  they  soar  above 
their  fellows  in  other  lands.  They  look  forward  to  the 
day  when  they  will  no  longer  be  labourers,  but  farmers, 
and  perhaps  proprietors  also.  In  the  meanwhile  they 
conscientiously  perform  the  tasks  allotted  to  them.  The 
number  of  Jewish  labourers  increases  year  by  year.  Of 
late  years  many  have  come  from  the  Yemen  in  South 
Arabia,  where  the  Jews  who  have  been  settled  there  since 
the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era  and  earlier  have  suf- 
fered so  severely  at  the  hands  of  the  native  chiefs  as  to 
render  their  lives  unbearable.  There  are  still  some 
thirty  thousand  Jews  in  the  Yemen,  all  capable,  with  a 
little  instruction,  of  agricultural  or  any  other  manual 
labour.  Migration  from  the  Yemen  to  Palestine  has  now 
become  regular,  and  in  due  course  the  greater  part,  if 
not  the  whole,  of  the  Jewish  population  should  remove 
from  South  Arabia  to  Palestine  to  the  advantage  of  the 
land  as  well  as  of  themselves. 

At  first,  of  course,  the  lack  of  experience  on  the  part 
of  the  colonists  had  to  be  compensated  for  by  the  em- 
ployment of  agricultural  experts  as  directors.  These 
experts  were  not  Jews,  and  had  to  be  sought  outside  of 
Palestine.  As  the  experience  of  the  colonists  grew,  the 
need  of  these  directors  in  the  older  colonies  diminished. 
There  always  remained,  however,  a  call  for  scientifically 
trained  agricultural  experts.  In  much  less  than  a  gen- 
eration the  source  of  supply  of  these  directors  has 
changed  entirely.  The  Jewish  agricultural  training- 
schools  in  Palestine  and  elsewhere  have  shown  them- 


Its  Colonization  123 

selves  well  qualified  to  satisfy  the  need,  and  the  Jewish 
material  on  which  they  draw  includes  also  children  of 
the  colonies,  who,  after  a  course  of  training  at  Mikveh 
Israel  or  elsewhere,  return  to  their  homes  or  settle  in 
other  colonies  to  take  their  part  in  the  Jewish  rehabili- 
tation of  the  Holy  Land.  Arboriculture,  especially 
fruit-farming,  and  agriculture  are  the  staple  industries 
in  the  colonies.  Wine-making  has  from  the  beginning 
been  a  considerable  industry.  Many  minor  industries, 
some  of  which  may  grow  to  considerable  importance, 
have  also  sprung  up.  Among  these  are  floriculture,  the 
distilling  of  perfumes,  soap-making  (from  the  fruit  of 
the  olive-tree),  agriculture,  cattle-breeding,  fruit-pre- 
serving, tobacco-growing,  silkworm  cultivation  and  silk- 
spinning,  and  poultry-farming. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  COLONIES  IN   DETAIL — I.   JUD.EA 

Mikveh  Israel,  the  oldest  of  the  existing  Jewish  agri- 
cultural settlements  in  Judeea,  is  not  in  its  main  purpose 
a  colony.  In  an  earlier  chapter  an  account  has  been 
given  of  the  establishment  by  the  Alliance  Israelite  of 
an  Agricultural  School.  This  school,  together  with  its 
dependants,  has  become  the  nucleus  of  a  small  colony 
of  which  it  forms  the  greater  part.  The  curriculum  of 
the  school  covers  a  wide  range,  and  a  practical  knowledge 
of  many  branches  of  agriculture  is  given  there.  Among 
the  many  advantages  which  Palestine  owes  to  Mikveh 
Israel  is  the  acclimatization  of  the  Damascus  cow,  which 
gives  four  times  as  much  milk  as  the  native  variety. 
Cereals,  vegetables,  oranges,  vines,  olives,  and  almonds 
are  all  cultivated  there  and  with  commercial  success. 
The  extent  of  the  settlement  is,  however,  not  very  con- 
siderable— about  600  acres — and  its  population  does  not 
exceed  200.  Mikveh  Israel's  function  is  still  that  of 
an  example;  it  is  still  a  centre  of  instruction  rather 
than  of  production.  The  establishment  in  1914  of  a 
Palestinian  Agricultural  Society,  which  includes  in  its 
membership  trained  and  practical  agriculturists  in  all 
parts  of  Palestine,  still  further  increases  the  value  of 
Mikveh  Israel  to  Palestine. 

The  earlier  history  of  Petach  Tikvah,  the  first  district 
to  be  settled  as  a  colony,  has  already  been  narrated. 

124 


The  Colonies — I.  Judcea  125 

A  part  of  the  land  abandoned  by  the  first  settlers  was 
purchased  by  new-comers  from  Bielistock,  in  Russia,  in 
1883.  They  also,  like  their  predecessors,  had  to  pay 
dearly  for  their  inexperience,  although  they  profited  to 
to  some  extent  by  the  failure  of  the  earlier  colonists. 
For  instance,  in  order  to  avoid  the  malaria  which  had  so 
sorely  stricken  the  first  settlers,  they  made  their  homes 
on  the  higher  ground,  the  houses  being  built  with  the 
assistance  of  the  Russian  Choveve  Zion.  In  the  year 
1887  Baron  Edmund  de  Rothschild  came  to  the  assist- 
ance of  the  struggling  colony.  He  bought  about  half 
of  the  site  of  the  original  holding  and  settled  twenty- 
eight  selected  families  upon  it.  To  check  the  ravages 
of  malaria  he  planted  eucalyptus-trees  around  the  neigh- 
bouring marshes.  Hitherto  corn-growing  had  been  the 
principal  industry,  but  the  Baron  introduced  the  vine 
into  Petach  as  well  as  into  the  other  colonies,  in  which 
he  began  to  take  an  interest  at  about  the  same  time. 
Another  philanthropist  who  devoted  attention  to  the 
colony  in  these  early  days  was  Emil  Lachmann,  of  Berlin, 
who  bought  a  portion  of  the  land  and  planted  an  orange 
grove  and  grape  vines. 

The  twenty-eight  new  families,  together  with  the 
survivors  of  the  earlier  settlers,  were  soon  reinforced  by 
a  number  of  further  arrivals,  some  of  whom  became 
colonists,  but  most  of  whom  entered  the  employment 
of  the  earlier  settlers  or  of  the  Administration.  The 
colonists  were  for  a  time  unable  to  support  themselves 
by  their  own  produce  alone,  and  had  to  supplement  the 
income  thus  derived,  by  wages  earned  in  the  employment 
of  others.  The  great  trouble  of  the  colony  in  those  early 
days  was,  however,  the  malaria  caused  by  the  unhealth- 
ful  situation.    The  removal  of  this  trouble  was  taken 


126  Palestine 

energetically  in  hand.  Not  only  did  the  Administration 
systematically  undertake  the  draining  of  the  neighbour- 
ing marshes,  but  local  regulations,  compelling  every 
householder  to  plant  a  row  of  eucalyptus-trees  between 
his  own  house  and  his  neighbour's,  were  enacted.  Much 
of  the  newly-drained  land  was  given  over  to  the  plough. 
The  cultivation  of  the  orange  also  spread  considerably. 
The  production  of  almonds,  apricots,  and  other  fruits 
had  already  been  undertaken,  but  that  of  the  orange  far 
outstripped  them  all.  The  vine  still,  however,  formed 
the  mainstay  of  the  colony. 

The  colonists  in  whom  the  Baron  had  originally  taken 
an  interest  were  soon  far  outnumbered  by  the  new- 
comers, but  they  were  not  forgotten  by  their  benefactor. 
The  vineyards  which  he  had  acquired,  together  with  two 
and  a  half  acres  of  arable  land  per  family,  were  distrib- 
uted among  the  twenty-eight  settlers  whom  he  had  intro- 
duced into  Petach  Tikvah.  The  Baron,  with  the  terrible 
example  of  the  town  populations  before  him,  and  always 
anxious  not  to  pauperize  his  proteges,  sold  the  land  to 
them ;  but  the  terms  were  very  easy,  as  they  were  given 
fifty  years  in  which  to  repay  the  purchase  money. 

Petach  suffered  in  common  with  the  other  wine- 
producing  colonies  from  the  crisis  in  the  wine-selling 
trade,  partly  due  to  overproduction  and  partly  to  dimi- 
nution in  the  demand.  This  colony  fortunately  had  not 
devoted  itself  entirely  to  viticulture.  It  was  therefore 
able  to  surmount  the  crisis  more  easily.  More  and 
more  attention  was  devoted  to  orange  cultivation,  and 
also  to  the  sale  of  the  produce.  Hitherto  the  latter  had 
been  left  in  the  hands  of  Arab  dealers  who  formed  a  ring, 
but  the  colonists  themselves  formed  a  society,  the 
Pardess,  for  the  sale  of  their  oranges,  and  as  a  conse- 


The  Colonies — I.  Judcea  127 

quence  the  price  received  soon  rose  from  two-  to  four- 
fold. The  Pardess,  with  the  assistance  of  the  lea,  built 
storage  at  Jaffa  and  undertook  the  carriage  as  well  as 
the  sale  of  the  produce.  In  1908,  the  year  of  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Pardess,  the  members  of  the  society  pro- 
duced 41,591  cases  of  oranges.  By  1911  that  number 
had  grown  to  about  120,000,  and  there  were  about  an- 
other 30,000  or  40,000  cases  produced  by  other  growers 
who  were  not  members  of  the  society.  If  conditions  had 
remained  normal,  it  was  estimated  that  by  the  year  1916 
the  output  would  have  amounted  to  300,000  boxes.  In 
1912  the  total  value  of  the  orange  groves  of  Petach  Tik- 
vah  was  estimated  at  nearly  $1,000,000.  Long  before 
this  time  viticulture  had  fallen  to  a  position  of  secondary 
importance  in  the  colony. 

The  orange  and  the  vine,  although  the  principal,  are 
not  the  only  considerable  objects  of  culture.  Almonds, 
lemons,  citrons,  and  other  fruits  are  also  extensively 
cultivated.  Through  the  instrumentality  of  Petach 
Tikvah  and  the  other  neighbouring  Jewish  colonies,  Jaffa 
almonds  have  acquired  a  reputation  which  should  render 
the  future  of  this  cultivation  secure.  In  1913  the  al- 
mond crop  of  Petach  brought  in  almost  £8,000.  Mul- 
berry-trees are  grown — at  first  with  the  assistance  of 
the  Odessa  Committee — for  the  breeding  of  silkworms, 
and  geraniums  and  other  flowers  for  the  manufacture 
of  perfumes.  For  the  encouragement  of  this  industry 
the  Baron  erected  a  perfume  distillery.  Experiments 
have  also  been  started  in  the  cultivation  of  bamboo, 
caoutchouc,  banana  and  cotton,  the  last-mentioned  on 
the  advice  of  the  British  Vice-Consul  at  Jaffa.  Dairy- 
farming  is  pursued.  The  experimental  cultivation  of  tea 
and  ostrich-farming  have  also  been  undertaken.    The 


128  Palestine 

cornfields  and  the  grass-lands  of  Petach  also  must  not  be 
forgotten. 

Once  the  colony  was  firmly  set  upon  its  feet,  it  pro- 
gressed continuously,  with  hardly  a  set-back.  It  grew 
continually  in  extent  and  absorbed  small  neighbouring 
settlements  which  had  already  been  planted.  Of  these, 
Ain  Ganim,  a  working-men's  settlement,  consists  of 
about  700  acres,  with  a  population  of  a  hundred.  The 
land  at  Kafr  Saba,  which  is  about  two  hours  north  of 
Petach,  was  acquired  in  1892,  but  development  did  not 
commence  until  twelve  years  later.  This  settlement  is 
also  worked  by  working  men,  who  cultivate  the  almond, 
the  olive,  and  the  eucalyptus.  Its  immediate  success 
gave  great  promise  for  the  future.  In  five  years  the 
value  of  its  products  increased  fourfold. 

The  productive  land  of  Petach  Tikvah  now  extends 
to  about  8,000  acres,  and  its  population  approximates  to 
three  thousand,  having  more  than  doubled  during  the 
past  ten  years.  The  colony  has  its  waterworks  (for  both 
domestic  and  irrigation  purposes),  a  dispensary,  two 
large  schools  (one  supported  out  of  the  revenues  of  the 
Lachmann  estate,  and  the  other  provided  by  the  lea), 
a  synagogue,  club  and  library  (provided  by  the  Jewish 
National  Fund)  and  other  public  buildings,  public  gar- 
dens (presented  by  Baron  Edmund),  and  two  hotels. 
The  colony  is,  in  fact,  no  longer  a  village,  but  a  garden 
city.  The  dwellings  all  stand  in  their  own  gardens. 
The  roads  are  avenues  of  mimosa  or  acacia.  In  the 
centre  of  the  colony  is  a  fountain  from  which  streams 
radiate  in  all  directions.  The  settlement  itself  is  em- 
bedded in  orange  groves  and  almond  plantations.  The 
price  of  land  in  the  colony — which  when  the  Jews  first 
came   there    was    practically    uninhabitable — has    risen 


The  Colonies — I.  Judcea  129 

from  $18  to  $180  per  acre  in  the  course  of  twenty-five 
years.  The  wages  paid  to  Arabs  employed  in  the  colony 
amount  to  almost  a  million  francs  per  annum.  Thirty 
years  ago  the  Government  received  in  taxation  from  the 
district  an  annual  sum  of  2,000  francs:  now  85,000 
francs  a  year  are  received,  and  the  taxation  is  not  ex- 
cessive. In  1880  the  value  of  the  land  of  the  colony  was 
estimated  at  $6000:  now  it  is  worth  $3,000,000.  No 
commentary  on  these  figures  is  necessary  to  show  the 
value  of  the  Jewish  immigration  into  Palestine  to  the 
Government  and  to  the  Arabs.  The  prosperity  of  the 
neighbouring  port  of  Jaffa  has  been  correspondingly  af- 
fected. 

Petach  Tikvah,  like  the  other  colonies  and  Tel  Aviv, 
enjoys  autonomy.  The  Waad,  or  local  council,  has  a 
wide  scope.  It  is  elected  annually  by  all  adult  land- 
owners, and  resident  tax-payers  of  three  years'  stand- 
ing, independent  of  sex.  To  this  council  the  Turkish 
Government  assigns  full  powers  of  local  administration. 
The  Central  Government,  in  fact,  takes  no  further  inter- 
est in  the  colony  beyond  requiring  annually  the  taxation 
for  which  it  is  liable.  The  Central  Government  has  re- 
served to  itself  the  right  of  interference  in  a  case  of 
murder,  but  as  murders  are  never  committed  by  the 
Jewish  settlers,  this  right  has  by  force  of  circumstances 
fallen  into  desuetude.  The  Waad  consequently  has  far 
greater  powers  and  responsibilities  than  a  town  or  dis- 
trict council  in  Europe.  The  registration  of  births, 
marriages,  and  deaths,  and  of  titles  to  land,  rests  with  it. 
It  is  responsible  for  the  division  of  both  the  local  and 
central  taxation  among  its  constituents.  Schools,  syna- 
gogues, public  hygiene,  including  the  services  of  physi- 
cian, chemist,  and  nurse,  water-supply,  public  baths,  and 


130  Palestine 

many  forms  of  public  charity,  are  under  its  control.  It 
concerns  itself  also  with  the  quality  of  the  food  offered 
for  sale. 

The  •  Council  acts  through  a  number  of  committees, 
which  deal  with  such  matters  as  finance,  education,  and 
public  security.  An  arbitration  committee  settles  and 
disputes  which  may  arise  between  settlers.  So  success- 
ful have  these  arbitration  committees  been  in  securing 
the  general  confidence  that  their  services  are  often 
sought  by  Arab  litigants,  not  local  residents,  who  are 
more  willing  to  accept  the  decisions  of  these  Jewish  com- 
mittees than  those  of  the  Government  Courts  appointed 
for  the  purpose  of  trying  their  causes. 

Rishon  le  Zion,  the  best  known  of  the  colonies  on 
account  of  the  attribution  of  its  name  to  the  wine 
produced  by  all  the  Palestinian  colonies,  also  was  not 
founded  under  the  best  of  conditions.  The  first  settlers 
were  essentially  men  of  the  town,  devoid  of  all  acquaint- 
ance with  rural  life.  The  choice  of  a  situation  for  their 
settlement  at  once  gave  evidence  of  their  inexperience. 
There  was  no  water  at  hand,  and  the  supply  of  the 
colony  was  dependent  on  a  source  at  a  distance.  The 
prospects  of  the  success  of  this  colony  were  very  dismal 
when  it  came  under  the  notice  of  the  Baron.  His  first 
assistance  took  the  form  of  a  loan  of  25,000  francs.  He 
also  sent  the  colonists  an  expert  horticulturist  to  teach 
them  the  art  of  planting.  Henceforward  his  interest 
in  Rishon  was  untiring,  and  he  is  computed  to  have  de- 
voted millions  of  francs  in  one  way  or  another  to  the 
welfare  of  the  settlement.  In  1885  he  bought  sufficient 
neighbouring  land  to  double  the  size  of  the  colony.  This 
was  necessary  in  order  to  accommodate  several  new 
families  which  had  arrived.    Two  years  later  a  further 


The  Colonies — I.  Judcea  131 

considerable  purchase  of  land  was  made.  At  first  the 
production  of  corn  was  undertaken,  but  the  ambition 
of  the  Baron  was  to  make  Palestine  a  wine-producing 
land,  and  Rishon  was  chosen  as  the  point  of  the  new 
departure.  French  varieties  of  vine  were  introduced 
and  grafted  on  American  stock,  so  as  to  render  them  im- 
mune from  phylloxera.  From  first  to  last  a  million  and 
a  half  vines  were  planted  in  Rishon  le  Zion.  The  most 
capacious  wine  cellar  in  the  world — containing  104  vats, 
each  holding  60,000  pints — was  constructed  and  fitted 
with  two  150  horse-power  steam-engines,  cooling  vats, 
etc.  Rishon  was  thereby  enabled  to  deal  not  only  with 
its  own  produce,  but  also  with  the  fruit  of  all  the  other 
Palestinian  colonies.  Unfortunately  the  supply  of  Pal- 
estinian wine  soon  exceeded  the  demand.  Much  of  the 
stock  became  unsaleable,  and  it  is  probable  that  the 
colonization  experiment  in  Judaea  would  have  been 
submerged  in  an  economic  crisis,  if  the  Baron  had  not 
again  stepped  in,  saved  the  situation,  and  purchased  at 
a  fixed  price  all  the  wine  that  was  offered.  As  this  price 
was  above  the  market  value,  and  as  no  commercial  ma- 
chinery was  then  available  for  disposing  of  the  produce, 
in  order  to  set  free  the  storage  accommodation  for 
further  purchases,  the  wine  already  purchased  was  sold 
at  a  considerable  loss.  For  fifteen  years  the  Baron 
continued  this  expensive  policy  of,  in  fact,  subvention- 
ing  the  colonists.  At  length,  after  he  had  handed  the 
administration  over  to  the  lea,  the  situation  was  eased 
by  a  considerable  reduction  in  the  area  devoted  to  viti- 
culture, and  by  the  formation  of  a  syndicate  for  the  dis- 
posal of  the  produce  on  commercial  lines,  which  by  a 
judicious  system  of  advertisement  brought  Palestine 
wine  under  the  notice  of  a  large  and  widespread  public. 


132  Palestine 

Compensation  was  paid  to  the  colonists  whose  vineyards 
were  destroyed,  and  almond,  olive,  orange,  and  other 
fruit-trees,  for  the  produce  of  which  there  was  a  surer 
market,  were  planted  in  place  of  the  vines.  Moreover, 
additional  land  suitable  for  the  cultivation  of  cereals 
was  purchased. 

Under  the  lea  administration  the  extent  of  the  colony 
was  much  increased  by  the  purchase  of  corn-land,  with 
the  assistance  of  loans  granted  by  the  Association.  The 
planting  of  fruit-trees — fig,  pomegranate,  apple,  mul- 
berry (for  silkworms),  and  citron,  as  well  as  almond, 
olive,  and  orange — was  also  encouraged,  and  the  cultiva- 
tion of  barley,  sesame,  and  water-melons  introduced. 
Cattle-breeding  was  also  undertaken.  By  means  of  this 
variety  of  produce  the  economic  position  was  secured. 
Rishon  le  Zion,  having  passed  out  of  its  period  of  anx- 
iety, became  prosperous,  and  is  now  the  third  largest 
Jewish  agricultural  settlement  in  Palestine.  Although 
the  extent  of  viticulture  has  been  reduced  almost  50  per 
cent.,  it  is  still  by  far  the  most  important  industry  in 
the  colony.  Next  to  it  in  importance  comes  the  orange 
industry.  The  cultivation  of  the  almond  does  not  fall 
far  short.  Corn-growing  is  also  important.  The  mul- 
berry-trees exceed  20,000  in  number.  The  quality  of 
the  vines  varies,  and  several  kinds  of  wine  are  manufac- 
tured. It  is  exported  to  Europe  and  America,  and  espe- 
cially to  Egypt,  where  Rishon  le  Zion  wine  is  widely 
consumed.  A  good  brandy  is  also  manufactured  and 
exported.  All  the  work  relating  to  the  manufacture  and 
export  of  the  wine  is  performed  by  the  Jewish  settlers, 
for  whom  even  a  cask  factory  was  established  in  Rishon, 
and  a  bottle  factory,  which  was  afterwards  discontinued, 
at  Tantura  in  Samaria. 


The  Colonies — I.  Judcea  133 

The  population  of  the  colony  now  amounts  to  between 
1,100  and  1,200  souls.  It  extends  over  about  3,000 
acres.  The  inhabitants  consist  of  artisans,  labourers, 
professional  men,  and  shopkeepers,  as  well  as  of  the  colo- 
nists proper.  The  houses  are  of  stone,  with  flower  and 
kitchen  gardens,  vines,  and  fruit-trees  attached.  Every 
family  owns  at  least  a  horse  and  cart,  a  cow,  and  some 
poultry.  The  colony  contains  three  large  wells,  a  syna- 
gogue, schools,  a  splendid  library,  a  club,  public  baths, 
municipal  buildings ;  a  hospital  with  six  wards.  Periodi- 
cals, Palestinian  and  foreign,  are  easily  obtainable  in  the 
colony,  the  intellectual  and  social  level  of  which  is 
relatively  high.  The  streets  are  broad  and  well  paved, 
lined  with  the  houses  surrounded  by  trees.  A  palm 
garden,  planted  by  the  Baron  and  presented  by  him  to 
the  colony  as  a  park,  is  the  finest  in  Syria.  A  diligence 
runs  regularly  between  Rishon  and  Jaffa,  which  is  two 
hours'  distant.  The  country  around  Rishon,  except 
where  the  lands  of  Rechoboth  and  Wad-el-Chanin  lie, 
is  sandy  and  uninhabited — a  wilderness  in  the  midst  of 
which  the  Jewish  colonies  blossom  as  oases.  The  land 
they  occupy  was  once  as  that  which  surrounds  them. 
If  these  Jewish  fugitives  had  not  settled  there  it  would 
have  remained  so.  Rishon  le  Zion,  seated  in  the  wilder- 
ness, is  one  more  witness  of  the  value  to  the  land  of 
Jewish  colonization. 

Wad-el-Chanin,  or  Nachalat  Reuben  (The  Heritage 
of  Reuben),  a  settlement  with  200  inhabitants,  to  the 
south  of  Rishon  and  in  similar  surroundings,  was 
founded  in  the  same  year  by  Reuben  Lehrer,  of  Kherson, 
who  purchased  336  acres,  and,  settling  in  the  colony,  sold 
some  of  the  land  to  other  Russian  settlers.  They  en- 
gaged mainly  in  viticulture,  and  suffered  very  severely 


134  Palestine 

in  the  crisis  which  overtook  that  industry.  The  small 
amount  of  land  belonging  to  the  colony  also  depressed 
the  fortunes  of  the  settlers.  The  Odessa  Committee  and 
the  Baron  had  early  rendered  assistance  to  the  colonists, 
and  the  lea  later  advanced  them  a  loan  of  100,000  francs. 
Still  later,  in  1906,  the  Vintners'  (Wine  Growers')  Syn- 
dicate advanced  money  wherewith  to  convert  much  of 
the  land  previously  planted  with  vines  into  almond, 
orange,  and  other  fruit  orchards.  Further  land  was 
also  bought  with  the  assistance  of  the  lea  and  the  culti- 
vation of  corn  undertaken.  To  tide  them  over  the 
period  of  transition,  the  lea  gave  employment  to  the 
colonists  in  its  own  orange  plantations  which  it  had  es- 
tablished in  the  colony.  In  due  course  the  economic 
situation  improved.  The  loans  have  for  years  been  re- 
paid with  regularity.  The  colony  is  now  self-support- 
ing; its  future  is  full  of  promise.  Agriculture  is  pur- 
sued in  the  colony  on  a  relatively  large  scale.  Orange 
production  has  become  the  main  industry.  Experi- 
ments have  also  been  made  in  cotton-growing. 

Jehudie,  a  very  small  colony  to  the  south  of  Petach 
Tikvah,  was  founded  in  the  following  year. 

Ekron,  founded  by  Baron  Edmund  in  1884  on  the 
Biblical  site  of  the  same  name,  near  Jabneh,  was  named 
by  him  Maskereth  Bathia,  after  his  mother.  He  com- 
menced the  colony  with  eighteen  families  of  Jewish 
agriculturists  from  Eussia,  who  engaged  in  the  cultiva- 
tion of  corn,  to  which  they  were  accustomed.  The  land 
was  not  altogether  suitable  for  cereals,  and  as  a  supple- 
mentary industry,  fruit-tree  planting  was  introduced. 
This  was  a  form  of  agriculture  with  which  the  colonists 
had  had  no  previous  acquaintance,  and  for  a  time  the 
colony  did  not  prosper.    Ekron  was  transferred  by  the 


A  Labourers  House 


Yemenite  Boys  at  Work 


The  Colonies — I.  Judcea  135 

Baron  to  the  lea,  together  with  his  other  interests  in 
Palestine,  and  further  ground  was  thereupon  bought 
and  sown  with  corn.  From  this  time  forward  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  colonists  was  assured.  Supporting 
themselves  in  comfort,  they  soon  repaid  the  money 
which  had  been  advanced  to  them  by  the  Baron.  The 
staple  industry  of  the  colony  is  wheat  production,  which 
is  now  conducted  with  great  success.  Sesame,  lucerne, 
and  barley  are  also  grown.  The  number  of  fruit-trees, 
comprising  oranges,  citrons,  almonds,  olives,  pome- 
granates, apples,  mulberries,  apricots,  bananas,  dates, 
and  figs,  is  also  considerable  and  increasing.  Among 
the  subsidiary  industries  is  that  of  silk  production.  The 
colony  now  owns  about  3,200  acres,  divided  among  a 
population  of  about  320.  Every  family  has  a  stone 
house,  one  or  two  horses  and  cart,  and  several  head  of 
cattle,  sheep,  goats,  and  poultry. 

Katrah  or  Ghederah,  situated  about  four  miles  south- 
west of  Ekron,  was  founded  in  the  same  year,  by  a 
number  of  student  members  of  the  Bilu,  by  other 
Russo-Jewish  immigrants  from  Charkow,  and  by  the 
Choveve  Zion.  The  original  settlers  had  far  more  zeal 
and  enthusiasm  than  capital  or  experience.  Their 
willingness  to  labour  and  to  exert  themselves  had  no 
apparent  limit,  but  through  want  of  knowledge  much  of 
their  labour  was  wasted.  The  deficiencies  were  to  some 
extent  made  good  by  the  Choveve  Zion,  which  with  great 
generosity  came  at  once  to  the  assistance  of  the  settlers. 
This  society  gave  them  the  means  wherewith  to  build 
houses,  to  bring  water  to  the  colony,  and  to  plant  vines. 
With  this  assistance  the  colonists  soon  forged  ahead 
until  the  wine  crisis  came.  To  tide  them  through  this 
the  lea  granted  them  loans,  but  only  seven  of  the  set- 


136  Palestine 

tiers,  those  who  were  the  most  deeply  engaged  in  wine 
production,  needed  this  assistance.  The  lea  also  im- 
proved the  water-supply  of  the  colony  and  erected  a 
mill,  worked  by  motor  power,  for  it.  The  cost  of  these 
improvements  was  repaid  in  annual  instalments.  In 
1895  the  manufacture  of  cognac  was  first  undertaken 
with  satisfactory  results.  Katrah  did  not  suffer  so 
severely  as  the  other  colonies  from  the  wine  crisis.  The 
cause  of  its  partial  immunity  was  the  special  suitability 
of  its  land  for  the  growth  of  vines.  The  crisis,  never- 
theless, led  to  a  reduction  in  the  area  devoted  to  vine- 
yards, and  the  land  thus  set  free,  as  well  as  other  land 
acquired  a  little  later,  was  devoted  mainly  to  the  pro- 
duction of  corn  and  almonds.  Not  more  than  20  per 
cent,  of  the  produce  of  Katrah  now  consists  of  wine. 
The  great  hardships  endured  by  the  original  settlers 
caused  many  of  them  to  leave  the  colony  at  one  time  or 
another.  Thus  but  few  of  the  original  settlers  or  their 
families  remain  at  Katrah.  Their  places  have  been 
taken  by  new-comers  from  the  neighbouring  colonies. 
The  population  is  still  small,  not  more  than  150,  who 
occupy  1,250  acres.  Every  family  is  now  prosperous. 
Without  exception  they  own  houses,  cattle,  and  poultry. 
To  every  house  vineyards  and  gardens — flower  and 
kitchen — are  attached. 

Castinieh,  or  Beer-Tobiah,  the  southernmost  but  one 
of  the  colonies,  lies  to  the  south  of  the  Katrah,  about 
fourteen  miles  north-east  of  Ascalon.  The  land  was 
originally  acquired  by  a  party  of  Roumanian  or  rather 
Bessarabian  Jews,  who  in  1888  sold  it  to  the  Baron. 
The  colony  was  not  a  success.  In  1895  the  Choveve 
Zion  societies  of  England  and  Russia,  the  Central  Com- 
mittee in  Paris,  and  the  Ezra  Society  of  Berlin,  ac- 


The  Colonies — I.  Judcea  137 

quired  it  on  very  favourable  terms,  and  set  about  to 
make  of  Castinieh  a  working  men's  colony.  They  set- 
tled twenty-one  colonists,  providing  them  with  land, 
cattle,  agricultural  implements,  and  small  subventions 
to  assist  them  until  they  could  become  self-supporting. 
With  three  exceptions  these  colonists  were  drawn  from 
among  the  labourers  in  other  colonies.  Of  the  excep- 
tions, two  were  graduates  of  the  Mikveh  Israel  Agricul- 
tural School.  The  settlers  threw  themselves  with  eager- 
ness into  the  work  of  home-making.  In  the  somewhat 
quaint  English  of  a  contemporary  report  to  the  Eng- 
lish Choveve  Zion:  "It  was  a  true  pleasure  to  see  the 
feverish  activity  which  reigned  in  the  colony  at  the  time 
of  building;  every  one  contributed  to  the  work — men, 
women,  and  children  carried  the  stones  on  their  backs, 
the  sand,  the  clay,  the  lime,  and  the  water  (at  the  com- 
mencement there  were  only  two  carts  for  hire  in  the  col- 
ony). They  kneaded  the  clay  and  they  built  the  houses 
with  very  small  stones.  The  women  plastered  the  earth 
floor  with  clay,  and  made  it  smooth  and  straight.  They 
worked  with  zeal  to  put  their  houses  in  good  order  and 
to  make  things  decent  in  these  houses  deserted  since  nine 
years.  Workmen  swarmed  at  all  points — large  and 
small,  male  and  female — and  the  result  has  been  truly 
fine.  Behind  the  houses  they  have  built  poultry -houses, 
kitchens,  small  stables,  and  storage  for  coal  and  other 
things  necessary  in  a  country-house.  Each  had  his  little 
project  and  arranged  the  inside  of  his  house  according  to 
his  pet  ideas." 

As  was  natural,  the  colonists  encountered  many  un- 
expected difficulties.  Some  of  the  oxen  which  they  had 
purchased  had  been  badly  trained,  "and  lay  down  when 
at  work,  and  the  colonists  were  unable  to  make  them 


138  Palestine 

work."  The  horses  also  were  accustomed  to  the  pack- 
saddle  rather  than  the  plough,  and  it  was  difficult  to 
get  them  to  adopt  their  new  calling.  The  ploughs 
proved  in  practice  too  heavy,  and  a  lighter  kind  had  to 
be  obtained.  These,  however,  and  other  difficulties  were 
as  nothing  when  the  fire  of  the  colonists'  enthusiasm  was 
turned  upon  them.  "Among  the  colonists  there  were 
only  a  few  who  knew  how  to  till.  The  most  of  them  are 
very  good,  are  careful  workmen,  but  have  never  handled 
the  plough;  some  of  them  even  did  not  know  how  to 
put  to  a  horse.  I  must  say,  however,  to  be  just,  that 
they  very  soon  learnt  how  to  look  after  horses  and  oxen 
as  well  as  to  handle  the  plough,  and  it  was  beautiful  to 
see  their  radiant  faces  when  they  came  to  tell  of  their 
success.  In  fact,  these  colonists,  who  a  few  months  ago 
did  not  know  how  to  put  to  a  horse,  now  till  the  ground 
from  morn  till  night,  make  good  straight  furrows,  and 
acquit  themselves  in  a  satisfactory  manner  of  all  the 
work  of  the  field." 

Although  Castinieh  depends  mainly  on  wheat  produc- 
tion, it  grows  barley  and  fruit  of  several  varieties  also. 
Its  roads  are  avenues  of  mulberry-trees:  its  boundaries 
consist  of  eucalyptus  woods.  The  population  of  Casti- 
nieh is  between  150  and  200  souls.  Its  area  extends  to 
1,600  acres. 

In  1890  the  smallest,  with  one  exception,  of  the 
Judaean  colonies,  Mozah  or  Kaloniyeh,  was  founded  on 
the  site  of  an  unsuccessful  attempt  at  colonization  by 
some  of  Kalischer's  disciples  in  1873,  by  the  interna- 
tional Jewish  society,  "The  Independent  Order  of  the 
B'nai  B'rith"  (Sons  of  the  Covenant),  by  which  organi- 
zation, and  also  by  the  lea,  it  has  been  to  a  large  extent 
assisted.    Mozah  is  situated  on  the  Judsean  hills,  three- 


The  Colonies — I.  Judaea  139 

quarters  of  an  hour's  journey  from  Jerusalem  on  the 
road  to  Jaffa.  The  vine  and  the  olive  are  cultivated 
there  and  wheat  is  also  grown  to  some  extent.  One  colo- 
nist devotes  himself  entirely  to  the  production  of  vege- 
tables, and  another  to  dairy-farming.  Both  find  a  ready 
market  for  their  produce  in  Jerusalem.  Mozah  has  be- 
come a  holiday  resort  for  the  children  of  Jerusalem. 

In  the  year  1890,  also,  the  colony  of  Rechoboth,  four 
miles  south  of  Eishon  and  the  same  distance  from  the 
Jaffa-Jerusalem  railway,  was  founded  by  a  number  of 
Russian  Jews,  mainly  of  Warsaw,  of  whom  Rabbi 
Samuel  Mohilever,  of  Bielistok,  was  the  most  prominent. 
Most  of  them,  however,  did  not  themselves  settle  in  the 
colony.  Over  2,500  acres  of  land  were  acquired  in  the 
first  instance,  and  devoted  for  the  most  part  to  viticul- 
ture. As  many  of  the  landowners  remained  in  Russia, 
Rechoboth  was  to  a  large  extent  at  the  beginning  a 
workers'  colony.  At  first  many  difficulties  were  placed 
in  the  way  of  the  colony  by  the  Turkish  authorities,  but 
in  1894  a  modus  vivendi  was  reached.  Henceforward 
Rechoboth  flourished.  In  course  of  time  the  cultivation 
of  the  vine  was  supplemented  and  partly  replaced  by 
other  forms  of  agriculture.  Almonds  came  to  occupy  an 
important  position  in  the  economy  of  the  settlement  and 
promise  to  do  so  still  more  in  the  future.  Olives  and 
oranges  are  also  important,  while  mulberries  (for  silk), 
figs,  and  cereals  are  also  grown. 

The  population  now  numbers  about  900,  inclusive  of 
270  who  have  come  from  the  Yemen  and  are  employed 
by  the  colonists.  Rechoboth  was,  in  fact,  the  first  colony 
to  make  the  introduction  of  Jewish  workmen  a  success. 
All  the  houses  are  comfortable  and  adequate,  but  not 
imposing  or  luxurious.     They  have  stables,  flower  and 


140  Palestine 

kitchen  gardens,  horses  and  carts,  cows  and  poultry. 
Mulberry-trees  form  avenues  along  the  streets,  and  in 
the  centre  of  the  village,  in  the  most  prominent  situation, 
stands  the  school.  Other  noticeable  buildings  are  the 
synagogue,  the  public  baths,  the  library,  the  dispensary, 
and  the  new  great  "Beth-Am"  ("The  People's  House") 
where,  during  the  evenings  and  on  Saturday  afternoons, 
literary  and  scientific  lectures  are  given  and  other  forms 
of  intellectual  recreation  are  pursued.  The  village  has 
in  all  three  schools. 

Close  to  Rechoboth  the  Choveve  Zion  Society  and  the 
Ezra  Society  of  Berlin  in  1895  founded  a  small  working 
men's  colony,  known  as  Ezra,  whose  first  inhabitants 
were  selected  from  among  the  labourers  in  other  colo- 
nies. Every  family  was  given  five  acres  of  land,  a  house 
built  of  stone,  three  cows,  and  a  stock  of  poultry.  The 
income  derived  from  these  was  supplemented  by  wages 
earned  in  Rechoboth.  The  settlers  were  by  these  means 
enabled  not  only  to  keep  themselves  and  their  families  in 
comfort,  but  even  to  save  money,  and  in  time  to  obtain 
larger  holdings  and  take  their  places  in  the  ranks  of  the 
established  colonists. 

The  foregoing  exhausts  the  list  of  the  principal  Jewish 
colonies  in  Judaea.  During  the  past  ten  years  small 
settlements  have  been  made  at  Ben  Shamen  (600  acres, 
100  inhabitants),  Bir  Jacob  (500  acres,  70  inhabitants), 
and  Hulda  (455  acres,  40  inhabitants).  Ben  Shamen  is 
to  a  large  extent  an  olive-tree  plantation.  In  1910 
workmen  of  the  Bezalel  School  of  Arts  and  Crafts  of 
Jerusalem  were  settled  there,  and  made  of  the  colony 
the  first  garden-city  (in  miniature)  based  on  domestic 
industry.  There  the  filigree  craftsmen  work  in  silver, 
and  their  wives  weave  carpets  and  work  lace.     A  model 


The  Colonies — I.  Judcea  141 

poultry  farm  and  a  model  farm  of  the  Jewish  National 
Fund  have  been  established,  and  the  village  is  also  the 
site  chosen  for  one  of  the  forests  of  olive-trees  which 
are  being  planted  by  the  last-mentioned  organization. 
Earlier  in  its  history  Ben  Shamen  was  the  site  of  a 
Hebrew  Agricultural  School,  and  in  1907  the  industrial 
settlement  of  the  "Athid"  oil  and  soap  factory  was 
established  there. 

Still  earlier,  in  1896,  a  Bulgarian  Jewish  Colonization 
Society  acquired  1,125  acres  at  Artuf,  not  far  from 
Jerusalem  on  the  railway,  where  an  English  mission  to 
the  Jews  had  previously,  without  success,  attempted  to 
found  a  Jewish  colony.  Insufficiency  of  means  was  a 
source  of  much  anxiety  and  hardship  at  first,  but  later 
the  lea  came  to  the  assistance  of  the  colonists  with  loans 
and  the  position  was  greatly  eased.  The  colony  is  still 
a  small  one,  about  1,200  acres  with  a  population  of 
ninety-five.  Corn,  grapes,  figs,  and  olives  are  grown. 
The  settlement  possesses  a  mill  and  an  oil  distillery,  and 
shortly  before  the  outbreak  of  the  War  a  large  dairy 
farm  was  established  there. 

At  Hulda,  not  far  from  Lydda,  on  the  Jerusalem-Jaffa 
railway,  the  Jewish  National  Fund  bought  land  in  1906. 
The  great  olive  grove  which  is  being  planted  in  memory 
of  Theodore  Herzl  is  situated  at  Hulda. 

The  first  steps  for  the  colonization  of  Djemama, 
twenty-six  miles  south  of  Castinieh,  had  been  taken  be- 
fore the  outbreak  of  the  War,  and  the  question  of  settling 
Jewish  colonists  still  farther  south,  in  the  Egyptian  ter- 
ritory of  El  Arish,  was  being  seriously  considered. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  COLONIES  IN   DETAIL — II.   GALILEE 

The  Galilean  colonies,  of  which  there  are  sixteen,  lie 
for  the  most  part  near  the  western  shore  of  the  Sea  of 
Galilee  and  the  western  bank  of  the  Jordan,  previous 
to  its  entrance  into  that  sea.  They  stretch,  however, 
almost  half-way  to  the  Mediterranean.  The  northern- 
most, Metula,  is  on  a  level  with  the  ancient  port  of 
Tyre:  the  southernmost,  Merchavia,  lies  on  the  Haifa- 
Damascus  railway.  The  district  in  which  these  colonies 
are  situated  is  perhaps  the  most  fertile  in  Palestine,  and 
would,  together  with  that  beyond  the  Jordan  which  the 
railway  serves,  under  satisfactory  political  conditions, 
become  one  of  the  granaries  of  the  world.  When  the 
lea  took  over  the  administration  of  these  colonies  from 
Baron  Edmund  in  1899,  almost  the  first  task  that  met 
them  was  the  transformation  of  a  wine-producing  area 
into  one  for  the  cultivation  of  cereals  and  for  cattle- 
raising.  For  this  purpose  additional  land  had  to  be 
purchased.  The  Baron  had  already  acquired  consider- 
able tracts  in  Lower  Galilee,  but  as  they  had  remained 
uncultivated,  they  had,  in  accordance  with  Turkish  law, 
reverted  to  the  Government.  The  lea  after  much 
difficulty  regained  possession  of  these  tracts  and  founded 
on  them  a  number  of  colonies.  In  fact,  the  colonization 
of  Southern  Galilee,  which  is  more  intensive  than  that 

142 


The  Colonies — II.  Galilee  143 

of  any  other  part  of  Palestine,  may  be  said  to  have  been 
largely  due  to  the  exertions  of  the  lea.  About  60  per 
cent,  of  the  land  in  these  colonies  has  now  passed  de- 
finitely into  the  possession  of  the  settlers. 

Of  the  colonies  in  Galilee,  Rosh  Pinah  (The  Corner- 
stone), north  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  three  miles  from 
Safed,  is  the  longest  established  and  also  the  largest.  It 
is  most  picturesquely  situated  on  the  mountain-side,  with 
magnificent  views  of  Mount  Hermon,  "The  King  of  the 
mountains  of  Palestine,"  in  the  far  distance,  and  the  Sea 
of  Merom  in  the  middle  distance,  to  the  north.  At  its 
feet  runs  the  Jordan,  hastening  on  its  way  to  the  Sea  of 
Galilee,  whose  blue  waters  are  to  be  seen  to-  the  south- 
east. Behind  the  observer  to  his  right  and  his  left 
stretch  the  highlands,  every  ridge  still  more  attractive 
in  appearance  than  the  one  below  it.  The  climate  is  ex- 
cellent and  the  spring-water  the  best  in  Palestine.  Ac- 
cording to  the  statement  of  the  local  doctor,  only  the  very 
young  and  the  very  old  are  buried  in  its  cemetery. 

Rosh  Pinah  was  settled  in  1882  by  Roumanian  immi- 
grants, who  devoted  practically  the  whole  of  their 
industry  to  viticulture.  When  Rosh  Pinah  with  the 
other  colonies  was  taken  over  by  the  lea,  it  was  there  that 
the  transformation  to  agriculture,  in  the  narrow  sense, 
and  cattle  breeding  was  first  undertaken.  Rosh  Pinah 
was  less  fitted  than  the  Judasan  settlements  for  success 
in  the  wine  industry,  but  on  the  other  hand  was  far 
more  adapted  for  the  alternative  industries.  To  facili- 
tate the  change,  some  of  the  colonists  were  transferred  to 
Judaea,  but  Rosh  Pinah  soon  recovered  from  the  tempo- 
rary loss  of  population,  and  although  its  increase  has  not 
been  as  great  as  that  of  its  contemporaries — the  nature 
of  the  staple  industries  necessitated  sparser  settlements 


144  Palestine 

— it  has  attained  to  a  condition  of  unquestionable  pros- 
perity. 

Corn — wheat  and  barley — and  cattle-raising  are  the 
principal  occupations.  In  addition  the  almond  industry 
is  relatively  considerable.  There  are  also  some  orange 
and  citron  orchards  and  tens  of  thousands  of  mulberry- 
trees.  A  silk-factory  which  gave  employment  not  only 
to  some  of  the  inhabitants,  but  also  to  some  of  the 
younger  Jews  at  Safed,  was  in  existence  for  a  time,  and 
the  silk  produced  in  the  other  Palestinian  colonies  was 
sent  to  Rosh  Pinah  to  be  manufactured.  This  industry 
commenced  under  very  promising  auspices.  It  had, 
however,  to  be  abandoned  on  account  of  the  difficulty,  in 
the  absence  of  satisfactory  roads,  of  keeping  in  touch 
with  the  outside  world.  Tobacco  cultivation  was  also 
undertaken  and  proved  successful,  but  the  industry  was 
destroyed  by  the  very  heavy  taxation  levied  upon  it  by 
the  Turkish  Government  on  account  of  possible  competi- 
tion with  the  State  monopoly. 

The  population  is  now  about  800,  and  the  land  under 
cultivation  about  9,500  acres.  The  houses  are  built  of 
stone,  every  one  surrounded  by  flower  and  kitchen 
gardens  and  orchards.  Every  household  is  the  owner  of 
horses,  asses,  cattle,  and  poultry.  Among  the  public 
buildings  of  the  village  are  the  synagogue,  the  school, 
public  baths,  and  a  dispensary.  The  streets  are  well 
paved  and  lined  with  avenues  of  trees.  All  the  fields 
and  plantations  are  surrounded  by  hedges  of  mimosa, 
whose  fragrant  blossoms  are  sent  to  the  perfume  factory 
at  Yessod  Hamaaleh.    The  village  owns  a  pretty  park. 

The  following  year  Yessod  Hamaaleh  (Excelsior)  was 
founded  by  a  number  of  Polish  immigrants  on  the  west- 
ern shore  of  the  Sea  of  Merom.    At  first  they  had  a  very 


The  Colonies — II.  Galilee  145 

severe  struggle  on  account  of  their  insufficient  means, 
but  in  due  course  the  Russian  Choveve  Zion  and  the 
Baron  came  to  their  assistance,  and  henceforward  their 
path  was  easier.  The  site  also  proved  unhealthful,  and 
steps  had  to  be  taken  to  eradicate  the  malaria  which  was 
rife.  On  the  other  hand,  the  water-supply  for  irriga- 
tion purposes  is  inexhaustible.  The  warm  climate  is 
especially  suitable  for  the  cultivation  of  flowers.  Large 
tracts  are  therefore  devoted  to  nursery  gardens,  roses, 
mimosa,  tuberoses,  jessamine,  geraniums,  wild  oranges, 
apricots,  etc.,  being  cultivated.  To  deal  with  the  produce 
of  these  gardens  a  factory  for  the  manufacture  of  attar  of 
roses,  eau-de-Cologne,  and  other  perfumes,  was  erected 
by  Baron  de  Rothschild.  The  nursery  gardens  of  Yessod 
Hamaaleh  also  supply  the  other  colonies  of  Upper  Gali- 
lee with  their  young  trees.  Moreover,  wheat,  oats,  bar- 
ley, maize,  beans,  and  sesame  are  cultivated,  and  to  a 
less  extent,  mulberries,  apricots,  and  almonds.  Cattle- 
breeding,  bee-keeping,  and  fishing  are  pursued,  and  the 
colonists  own  a  vessel  which  plies  on  the  Sea  of  Merom. 
Tobacco-growing  was  formerly  attempted  and  proved 
successful,  but  the  industry,  as  in  Rosh  Pinah,  was  killed 
by  the  Turkish  authorities  on  behalf  of  the  "Dette 
Publique, ' '  which  possesses  the  tobacco  monopoly. 

The  prosperity  of  the  colony  is  now  assured.  Its 
population  consists  of  about  300  souls,  occupying  over 
3,000  acres,  and  employing  not  only  themselves,  but  also 
labourers  from  the  neighbouring  colony  of  Mishmar  ha 
Yarden.  The  colony  possesses  the  usual  public  institu- 
tions. 

In  1884  a  tract  of  land  was  purchased  at  the  Bridge  of 
Jacob,  not  far  from  the  issue  of  the  Jordan  from  the  Sea 
of  Merom.     On  one-half  of  the  tract  twenty  labourers 


146  Palestine 

from  the  then  existing  colonies  settled:  the  other  was 
acquired  by  a  teacher  and  twenty-five  labourers  from 
Safed.  These  settlers  possessed  nothing  but  enthusiasm. 
They  had  no  means  whatsoever.  The  land  they  ob- 
tained on  credit  without  much  prospect  of  ever  being 
able  to  pay  for  it.  Apart  altogether  from  the  conditions 
of  their  tenure,  the  extent  of  the  land  was  insufficient 
to  allow  the  prospective  colony  to  become  self-support- 
ing. The  houses  in  which  the  colonists  were  to  live  were 
built  by  means  of  loans.  Their  great  asset  was  that  in- 
destructible confidence  in  the  future,  that  unquenchable 
optimism  which  has  preserved  the  Jewish  people  for 
twenty  centuries.  The  name  which  they  gave  to  the 
settlement  was  Gesher  ha  Yard  en  (The  Bridge  over  the 
Jordan).  These  pioneers  were,  however,  not  let  to  die 
of  starvation.  The  Choveve  Zion  and  the  Ezra  Society 
of  Berlin,  and  also  the  Baron,  came  to  their  assistance. 
Money  was  advanced  to  enable  them  to  pay  for  their 
land  and  their  houses.  They  were  assisted  to  build  ad- 
ditional houses;  irrigation  works  were  provided;  furni- 
ture, cattle,  and  money  supplied.  The  insurmountable 
difficulty  was,  however,  the  insufficiency  of  land,  as  a 
consequence  of  which,  in  despite  of  all  the  assistance, 
the  numbers  of  the  settlers  dwindled,  and  the  stability 
of  the  settlement  seemed  unattainable. 

An  improvement  set  in  in  1898,  when  the  lea  began 
to  take  an  interest  in  the  colony.  The  population  had 
by  then  decreased  to  fifteen  families.  About  this  time 
the  name  was  changed  to  Mishmar  ha  Yarden  (The 
Watch  on  the  Jordan).  Corn-growing  was  the  principal 
industry,  although  cattle-raising  was  not  far  behind  it 
in  importance.  The  latter  industry,  however,  suffered 
several  set-backs  from  outbreaks  of  cattle  disease,  by 


The  Colonies — II.  Galilee  147 

which  the  herds  suffered  severely.  The  insufficiency  of 
land  was  also  always  a  serious  handicap,  and  it  was  not 
until  1907  that  the  size  of  the  settlement  could  be  ex- 
tended. Even  then  the  needs  of  the  colonists  were  not 
fully  satisfied,  but  the  holdings  have  since  been  again 
supplemented,  and  the  condition  of  the  colony  now  shows 
an  improvement  year  by  year.  If  only  further  land  can 
be  acquired,  Mishmar  ha  Yarden  should  in  course  of  time 
become  one  of  the  largest  and  most  prosperous  in  Galilee. 
In  consequence  of  the  very  serious  difficulties  with  which 
the  colonists  had  to  contend  throughout  the  greater  part 
of  the  life  of  the  colony,  their  number  was  never  consid- 
erable. At  present  they  amount  to  about  100  and  oc- 
cupy about  1,750  acres. 

Ain  Zeitun,  about  a  couple  of  miles  from  Safed,  is  a 
colony  of  1,500  acres,  with  a  population  of  less  than 
fifty.  The  colony  was  founded  in  1891  by  the  Dorshe 
Zion  Society  of  Minsk,  Russia,  but  they  had  not  the 
means  to  work  it  properly,  and  transferred  it  three  years 
later  to  Baron  de  Rothschild.  The  settlers  are  for  the 
most  part  labourers  who  cultivate  corn,  olives,  and  the 
vine. 

Metula,  the  northernmost  of  the  colonies,  is  situated  at 
the  foot  of  Mount  Hermon,  not  far  from  the  ancient  Dan. 
It  is  one  of  the  colonies  that  were  founded  by  Baron  de 
Rothschild  himself.  It  was  laid  out  in  1896,  and  the 
original  settlers  were  drawn  from  labourers  or  the  sons 
of  colonists  in  other  colonies.  When  Metula  came  under 
the  administration  of  the  lea  in  1900,  it  was  decided,  in 
view  of  the  insufficiency  of  the  land  available  per  colo- 
nist, to  remove  some  of  them  to  other  colonies.  Fifteen 
colonists  were  consequently  transferred  to  Lower  Galilee. 
At  the  same  time,   further  land  was  purchased   and 


148  Palestine 

money  advanced  to  the  remaining  colonists  to  enable 
them  to  extend  their  plantations.  Wheat  and  barley 
cultivation,  supplemented  by  cattle-breeding  and  poul- 
try-farming, are  the  principal  occupations.  Metula  is, 
in  fact,  a  typical  farmers'  colony.  Its  beautiful  situa- 
tion, looking  towards  the  Lebanon,  and  healthful  climate 
have  of  recent  years  made  of  it  a  summer  resort  to  which 
the  inhabitants  of  the  warmer  regions  betake  themselves 
for  health  and  rest.  Metula  now  covers  about  4,250 
acres  and  has  a  permanent  population  of  about  300. 
One  of  the  conditions  on  which  the  original  settlers  were 
assisted  was  that  when  they  married  they  should  seek 
their  brides  only  in  the  Jewish  colonies  in  the  Holy 
Land,  so  that  their  wives  should  be  helpmeets,  fitted  to 
take  their  share  in  the  work  of  the  farm. 

Mahanaim,  the  colony  next  to  be  founded  in  Galilee, 
is  a  short  distance  from  Rosh  Pinah.  It  was  founded  by 
the  Galician  Ahavath  Zion  Society  with  the  aid  of  the 
lea  and  the  Ezra  Society.  Of  the  first  colonists  ten 
families  came  from  Galicia  and  six  were  natives  of  Pales- 
tine. The  population  now  amounts  to  about  100,  and 
the  colony  covers  about  2,000  acres,  for  the  most  part 
owned  by  the  colonists  in  Rosh  Pinah. 

In  the  same  year  Sedjerah,  the  first  of  the  colonies  to 
be  settled  by  the  lea,  was  founded.  A  site  was  chosen 
in  Lower  Galilee,  due  west  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee  at  the 
foot  of  Mount  Tabor,  where  a  tract  of  4,250  acres  was 
acquired.  At  first  a  farm  was  built,  wheat  and  barley 
sown,  and  cattle-breeding  and  poultry-farming  under- 
taken. Fifty-two  workmen,  mostly  unmarried,  were 
brought  to  the  farm,  where  they  were  taught  suitable 
methods  of  agriculture  and  cattle-farming  by  the  Arabs 
from  whom  the  land  had  been  bought,  and  who  remained 


The  Farm  at  Kinnereth 


A  Colonist's  Wife  at  Kinnereth 


The  Colonies — II.  Galilee  149 

settled  on  their  own  lands  in  the  neighbourhood.  In 
1900  a  formal  colony  was  established  next  to  the  farm. 
In  this  colony  the  lea  departed  from  its  previous  prac- 
tice of  supplying  the  settlers  with  farms,  etc.,  leaving 
the  cost  to  be  repaid  in  instalments.  They  introduced 
the  practice  of  retaining  possession  of  the  land  and  of 
giving  employment  to  the  settlers,  so  that  before  them- 
selves becoming  farmers  they  might  serve  an  apprentice- 
ship to  the  calling  they  were  about  to  adopt.  Among  the 
settlers  who  were  placed  by  the  lea  were  two  proselytes, 
Russians  who  had  adopted  Judaism  and  had  in  conse- 
quence to  flee  from  their  homes.  The  main  products  of 
Sedjerah  are  grain — wheat,  barley,  oats,  sesame — cattle, 
and  vegetables.  Tobacco  is  also  grown.  The  Agudath 
Netaim,  a  plantation  society  to  which  the  lands  still 
worked  by  the  lea  are  about  to  be  transferred,  proposed 
to  introduce  the  cultivation  of  the  almond,  the  olive,  and 
the  vine.  The  population  of  Sedjerah  is  now  about  200 
and  the  area  of  the  colony  about  6,000  acres. 

Four  colonies — Jemma,  Bed j en,  Mesha,  and  Melhamieh 
— were  founded  by  the  lea  in  Lower  Galilee  in  the  course 
of  the  year  1901-1902,  and  in  all  four  the  policy  adopted 
with  regard  to  Sedjerah  was  followed.  Of  these  Jemma 
is  close  to  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  Mesha  is  farther  west,  and 
Melhamieh  is  on  the  Jordan  after  it  has  issued  from  the 
sea.  Bedjen  adjoins  Jemma.  Melhamieh  was  settled 
by  experienced  labourers  from  Judaea  and  Samaria,  the 
other  by  colonists  transferred  from  elsewhere,  who  were 
required  to  work  as  labourers  for  a  year  or  so  before  they 
were  permitted  to  occupy  farms.  In  the  early  years  of 
a  colony  the  upkeep  of  the  communal  institutions  is  a 
considerable  burden,  which  hinders  the  attainment  of 
economic  independence — the  aim  of  all  the  colonies.     To 


150  Palestine 

lighten  that  burden  at  Jemma  and  Bedjen,  which  are 
only  ten  minutes  apart,  the  experiment  has  been  tried  of 
having  institutions  in  common.  These  two  colonies  have 
one  school,  one  doctor,  and  one  dispensary  between  them. 
By  these  economies  an  annual  expenditure  of  10,000 
francs  is  saved.  In  recent  years  the  lea  has  encouraged 
the  settlement  of  farmers  with  capital  in  these  colonies. 
Having  a  greater  stake  in  the  land,  they  show  all  the 
greater  zeal  in  attending  to  it. 

Mesha  shows  an  almost  uninterrupted  progress  since 
its  establishment  thirteen  years  ago.  Wheat  is  the 
principal  product,  but  other  cereals  are  also  grown. 
The  planting  of  olives,  almonds,  and  vines  was  recently 
undertaken.  The  colonists  have  been  able  to  establish 
a  loan  bank — originally  helped  by  the  lea,  but  now 
possessing  its  own  capital — a  cattle  and  fire  insurance 
society,  and  a  co-operative  society.  Electric  power  has 
been  installed  whereby  water  has  been  brought  to  all  the 
houses  as  well  as  to  the  fields,  and  the  corn  mill  is  driven. 
The  15,000  francs  required  for  this  purpose  was  advanced 
by  the  Anglo-Palestine  Bank,  and  is  to  be  repaid  in  the 
course  of  four  years.  The  colony  of  Mesha  extends  to 
4,000  acres  and  holds  a  population  of  about  250  souls. 

Jemma 's  advance  was  slow — if  there  was  any  move- 
ment at  all — until  the  year  1907,  when  with  the  removal 
of  some  of  the  colonists  and  their  replacement  by  new- 
comers the  colony  made  a  definite  move  forward,  a  move- 
ment which  has  never  ceased.  Cereals  are  the  principal 
produce;  but  the  cattle  and  poultry  owned  by  the  colo- 
nists are  not  inconsiderable  in  number.  Planting  is 
about  to  be  undertaken.  Jemma  extends  to  6,100  acres, 
with  a  population  of  250. 

Bedjen,  otherwise  known  as  Delaika  Sahou,  resembles 


The  Colonies — II.  Galilee  151 

its  neighbour,  Jemma,  very  much,  both  in  history  and  in 
products.  It  is,  however,  much  smaller,  with  a  popula- 
tion of  only  about  fifty  occupying  1,100  acres. 

In  Melhamieh  also  a  change  of  colonists  in  1903  led  to 
improvement.  Corn  and  cattle  are  the  principal  indus- 
tries. Cotton  was  planted  in  the  Jordan  Valley,  but 
although  the  results  were  fairly  satisfactory,  the  cultiva- 
tion was  abandoned  after  a  short  time.  The  cultivation 
of  bananas,  early  citrons,  and  other  fruits  is  about  to  be 
undertaken.  The  population  amounts  to  about  100,  and 
the  land  of  the  colony  to  about  3,400  acres. 

During  the  last  few  years  five  further  colonies  have 
been  established  in  Lower  Galilee:  Mizpah  and  Kin- 
nereth  in  1908 ;  Migdal,  off  the  northern  shore  of  the  Sea 
of  Galilee,  in  1910;  and  Merchavia,  the  southernmost  of 
them  all,  on  the  Haifa-Damascus  railway  at  the  junction 
with  the  branch  which  is  ultimately  to  be  extended  to 
Jerusalem,  and  Poria,  in  1911.  Mizpah,  otherwise  Ain 
Kateb,  was,  like  the  others,  founded  by  the  lea.  The 
population  numbers  only  forty,  who  cultivate  900  acres. 
Kinnereth  has  next  to  it  the  estates  of  Daleika  and 
Dagania,  which  belong  to  the  Palestine  Land  Develop- 
ment Company.  The  former  was  previously  an  agricul- 
tural school.  Both  Daleika  and  Dagania,  which  were 
founded  and  are  conducted  under  Zionist  auspices,  are 
co-operative  working  men 's  settlements.  The  total  popu- 
lation of  the  three  settlements  amounts  to  about  120. 
The  lea  holds  about  1,400  acres  and  the  co-operative  set- 
tlements about  the  same  amount.  Migdal,  or  Medsjdel, 
the  property  of  the  Tiberias  Land  and  Plantation  Com- 
pany, is  intended  to  be  primarily  a  cotton  plantation. 
Corn  and  vegetables  are,  however,  also  grown  there. 
The  population  is  already  100  and  the  settlement  ex- 


152  Palestine 

tends  over  1,125  acres.  Merchavia  is  also  a  co-operative 
working  men's  settlement  belonging  to  the  Co-operative 
Settlement  Company.  It  houses  100  inhabitants  on 
about  2,350  acres.  Poria,  the  most  recent  of  the  settle- 
ments in  Galilee,  consists  of  about  900  acres  belonging  to 
an  American  Jewish  Achuza  or  Plantation  Company. 
Work  in  which  a  population  of  fifty  is  engaged  has  com- 
menced on  the  planting  of  almonds  and  olives. 

These  five  colonies  are  still  in  their  infancy,  and  it 
would  be  premature  to  speak  of  their  progress  or  pros- 
pects of  success.  Merchavia,  which  is  an  experiment  in 
co-operation,  has  succeeded  sufficiently  to  enable  the  ex- 
pert directors  to  be  withdrawn,  and  the  management  of 
the  settlement  to  be  entrusted  safely  to  a  committee 
drawn  from  among  the  working-men  settlers. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE   COLONIES  IN   DETAIL — III.   SAMARIA  AND 
TRANSJORDANIA 

The  story  of  the  first  settlement  of  Zichron  Jacob  has 
been  told  on  a  previous  page.  Its  further  history  fol- 
lowed lines  very  similar  to  those  of  Rishon  le  Zion.  With 
the  support  of  Baron  de  Rothschild  the  wine  industry 
monopolized  the  interests  of  the  settlers.  Large  wine- 
cellars  to  serve  not  only  Zichron,  but  also  the  other  colo- 
nies in  Samaria,  were  erected;  additional  land  was  ac- 
quired by  the  Baron  without  difficulty.  Four  small 
daughter  colonies — Shefeya,  Bath  Shelomo  (Um  el 
Djemal),  Marah,  and  Herbet  Menshie — were  also  settled 
with  selected  agricultural  labourers  whose  records  prom- 
ised that  they  would  make  good  farmers.  Cereal-grow- 
ing was  pursued  mainly  in  these  small  settlements.  The 
principal  industry  of  Zichron  and  its  offshoots  was,  how- 
ever, still  the  vine. 

The  wine  crisis  was  a  time  of  great  anxiety  for  all 
interested  in  the  colony,  but  in  due  course  it  passed  away 
without  inflicting  any  enduring  harm.  Under  the  lea 
administration  further  land  was  acquired,  and  this,  as 
well  as  much  of  that  which  had  previously  been  vine- 
yard, was  devoted  to  agriculture  in  the  narrow  sense. 
The  holdings  of  the  existing  colonists  were  increased,  and 
new  settlers  were  provided  with  adequate  land.  Cattle- 
breeding  was  also  followed  on  a  larger  scale,  and  the 

153 


154  Palestine 

value  of  the  herds  owned  by  the  colonists  rose  in  the 
course  of  a  few  years  to  180,000  francs.  From  two- 
thirds  to  three-quarters  of  the  income  of  the  colonists  is 
now  derived  from  corn-growing  and  cattle-breeding. 
The  remainder  is  dependent  mainly  on  the  plantations, 
which  comprise  principally  vines,  oranges,  almonds,  figs, 
tangerines,  anise,  roses,  acacia,  and  olive-trees.  Silk- 
worm-breeding, agriculture,  and  vegetable-growing  are 
also  pursued. 

Zichron  is  beautifully  situated,  800  feet  above  sea- 
level,  surrounded  by  corn-lands  and  orchards,  with  the 
sea  within  sight  and  almost  within  hearing  on  the  west, 
and  the  mountains  ending  in  the  historic  height  of 
Carmel  on  the  north.  Dependent  solely  on  the  work  of 
the  field,  Zichron  should  be  considered  a  village;  judg- 
ing from  its  size,  its  paved  streets,  its  substantial  stone 
houses  and  its  public  buildings,  one  is  justified  in  calling 
it  a  small  town.  The  most  prominent  situation  is  occu- 
pied by  the  synagogue,  the  gift  of  Baroness  Edmund  de 
Rothschild — a  spacious  building,  simply  yet  artistically 
decorated,  with  comfortable  accommodation  for  four 
hundred  worshippers.  The  Administration  building, 
another  of  the  public  buildings,  faces  the  small  park, 
which  on  its  part  increases  the  beauty  and  the  attractive- 
ness of  the  settlement.  The  hospital  is  more  than  ade- 
quate to  satisfy  the  not  excessive  needs  of  Zichron  and 
the  surrounding  colonies.  Other  institutions  are  the 
school,  the  library,  the  baths,  the  aforementioned  wine- 
cellars,  and  the  steam-mill.  Zichron  is  also  the  locale  of 
the  offices  and  laboratories  of  a  Jewish  Agricultural  Ex- 
periment Station  which  was  founded  by  some  public- 
spirited  American  Jews  in  1910,  and  has  already  well 
fulfilled  their  expectations.     In  estimating  the  value  of 


Colonies — 277.  Samaria,  Transjordania     155 

this  settlement  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  before  the 
Jewish  colonists  came,  the  site  of  Zichron  was  a  rocky, 
boulder-strewn  wilderness  that  had  to  be  cleared  before 
it  was  capable  of  supporting  a  population  of  any  size. 

One  of  the  offshoots  of  Zichron  is  the  small  settlement 
of  Tantura,  on  the  site  of  the  Biblical  Dor.  The  Baron 
established  there  a  glass  factory  to  supply  the  consider- 
able demands  for  bottles  on  the  part  of  the  Palestinian 
colonies,  but  the  sand  at  Tantura  proved  unsuitable  for 
the  purpose,  and  the  industry  had  to  be  abandoned. 
The  Jewish  workers  were,  however,  remarkably  success- 
ful in  learning  the  craft,  and  showed  that,  given  satis- 
factory conditions,  they  had  no  reason  to  fear  the  com- 
petition of  experienced  European  workers.  The  few 
colonists  who  remain  at  Tantura  are  engaged  in  raising 
corn  and  vegetables. 

The  population  of  Zichron  and  its  subsidiary  settle- 
ments approaches  two  thousand.  The  lands  they  occupy 
exceed  4,700  acres  in  extent. 

In  the  year  1883  some  Russian  Colonization  Societies 
purchased  6,500  acres  of  land  at  Chederah,  south  of  the 
ancient  port  of  Cassarea.  The  land  remained  undevel- 
oped for  eight  years  until  1891,  when  a  colony  was  estab- 
lished by  Jews  from  Riga  and  Wilna.  The  situation 
unfortunately  was  very  ill-chosen.  The  neighbouring 
river,  overflowing  its  banks,  caused  acres  of  swamps,  and 
the  resultant  malaria  decimated  the  numbers  of  the 
colonists.  The  survivors,  however,  did  not  lose  heart, 
but  clung  to  their  lands.  ' '  They  had  come  to  colonize, ' ' 
they  declared,  "and  so  long  as  there  was  still  an  atom 
of  strength  left  to  them,  they  would  continue  the 
struggle."  The  colonists  unaided  could  never  have  over- 
come this  misfortune,  but  here  also  the  Baron  came  to 


156  Palestine 

their  assistance.  A  complete  scheme  for  draining  the 
colony  was  drafted,  and  the  means  for  putting  it  into 
force  were  provided  by  Baron  Edmund.  The  women 
and  children  were  temporarily  removed  from  the  settle- 
ment: the  men  remained  behind  until  they  had  gath- 
ered in  the  harvest.  Three  hundred  Egyptians,  accus- 
tomed to  drainage  work  and  immune  from  malaria,  were 
brought  to  perform  the  labour.  "When  the  harvest  had 
been  gathered,  some  of  the  colonists  declined  to  leave, 
persisting  in  their  request  to  be  allowed  to  share  in  the 
unhealthful  work  of  drainage,  on  the  ground  that  they 
were  a  part  of  the  colony  and  it  was  their  duty  to  take 
their  share  in  all  the  work  that  it  required.  This  claim 
was  at  length  recognized,  and  colonists  were  permitted 
to  work  side  by  side  with  the  imported  labourers,  buried 
as  far  as  their  knees  in  the  pestilential  mud.  Nine  hun- 
dred acres  in  all  were  drained  and  500,000  eucalyptus- 
trees  planted  as  a  ward  around  the  settlement.  A  school 
was  also  presented  to  the  colonists  by  the  Baron,  and  the 
Russian  Choveve  Zion  rendered  them  assistance  in  other 
directions. 

The  sanitary  state  of  Chederah  is  now  quite  satis- 
factory. Among  the  mainly  agricultural  colonies  of 
Palestine  it  is  one  of  the  most  successful.  The  colonists, 
who  as  a  rule  own  their  holdings,  are  of  the  best  type  of 
farmer.  The  principal  product  is  corn,  but  the  inferior 
lands  on  which  agriculture  would  prove  unremunerative 
are  devoted  to  plantations,  oranges,  olives,  and  grapes 
being  cultivated.  The  colony  occupies  in  all  nearly 
8,000  acres.  Its  inhabitants  number  nearly  500  souls, 
a  considerable  proportion  of  whom  consists  of  labourers, 
including  Yemenite  immigrants.  For  the  labourers, 
quarters  have  been  provided  by  the  Jewish  National 


The  Produce  of  the  Land 


The  Wine  Harvest 


Colonies — III.  Samaria,  Trans jordania     157 

Fund  and  the  Ezra  Society  of  Berlin,  for  the  unmarried 
men  as  well  as  for  the  families. 

At  Chefzibah,  close  to  Chederah,  the  Agudath  Netaim 
has  acquired  about  2,000  acres,  which  it  proposes  to 
divide  into  farms,  which  are  to  be  sold  to  settlers  dis- 
inclined themselves  to  undertake  the  pioneer  work. 
Apart,  however,  from  the  employes  of  the  Company  and 
their  families,  Chefzibah  has  as  yet  no  inhabitants. 

Atlit,  the  last  established  of  the  Jewish  colonies  in 
Samaria,  lies  on  the  sea-coast,  close  to  the  picturesque 
ruins  of  the  Crusading  stronghold  of  the  same  name. 
It  was  one  of  those  founded  by  the  Baron  and  taken  over 
by  the  lea  in  1900.  It  was  then  in  the  first  stages  of 
settlement.  The  land  was  not  divided  into  separate 
holdings  until  1908,  when  twelve  houses  were  erected. 
This  colony,  whose  lands  extend  to  1,700  acres,  is  still  in 
a  backward  state.     Its  population  numbers  fifty. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  Jordan,  the  only  colony  that 
has  yet  been  settled  is  Bene  Yehudah,  or  El  Jekum,  on 
the  eastern  shore  of  Lake  Tiberias,  almost  opposite  to 
the  city  of  Tiberias.  It  was  originally  settled  in  1886  by 
Jews  of  Safed,  acting  on  the  suggestion  of  Laurence 
Oliphant.  Possessed  of  insufficient  means,  these  settlers 
were  quite  unable  to  cultivate  the  2,000  acres  which  were 
at  their  disposal,  even  vv  ".th  the  assistance  of  the  Arabs, 
who  were  in  a  sort  of  limited  partnership  with  them. 
Assistance  was  rendered  by  the  English  Choveve  Zion 
and  other  institutions,  but  none  of  them  was  able  to  make 
the  small  colony  self-supporting.  The  number  of  the 
settlers  has  nevertheless  increased,  though  very  slowly, 
and  now  amounts  to  about  ninety.  When,  after  the 
political  settlement,  security  is  given  to  the  land,  and 
other  colonies  are  founded  in  the  fruitful  lands  of  Trans- 


158  Palestine 

jordania,  Bene  Yehudah  will  doubtless  take  its  place 
among  the  flourishing  Jewish  settlements  of  Palestine,  the 
pioneers  of  the  Return  of  the  long  dispossessed  heirs  to 
the  Land. 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE  ZIONIST  IDEA  BEFORE  THEODORE   HERZL 

No  history  of  the  renaissance  of  Palestine  can  be  com- 
plete without  some  chapters  regarding  the  growth  among 
the  masses  in  the  Diaspora  of  the  movement  for  the 
return  of  the  preservation  through  centuries  of  exile, 
of  the  longing  of  the  Jewish  people  for  their  ancestral 
land,  and  of  the  crystallization  during  the  past  two 
decades  of  that  longing  into  the  Zionist  Movement.  A 
history  of  Zionism,  the  movement  for  the  return  of  the 
Jews  to  Palestine,  might  well  comprise  a  history  of  the 
Diaspora.  The  love,  the  longing,  the  passion  of  the  Jew 
for  his  motherland,  for  the  home  of  his  people,  were  not 
quenched  in  the  blood  of  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
followers  of  Bar  Cochba  who  were  involved  in  the  failure 
of  his  rising.  Exile,  in  fact,  made  it  the  more  intense. 
The  banishment  of  the  Jews  from  their  home,  their  dis- 
persion among  the  nations,  instead  of  leading  them  to 
forget  their  origin  and  their  kindred  scattered  in  all  the 
countries  of  the  known  world,  reminded  them  of  their 
former  state.  The  miseries  of  their  new  condition 
aroused  hopes  of  a  change,  to  be  effected  in  their  own 
land,  with  freedom  to  live  their  own  life.  This  hope  for 
a  return  to  Zion,  which  has  survived  undimmed  for 
almost  two  thousand  years,  has  been  due  to  a  not  incon- 
siderable extent  to  the  attitude  adopted  towards  the  Jews 
by  the  nations  in  whose  midst  they  have  dwelt.    At  first, 

159 


160  Palestine 

for  many  centuries,  they  were  a  people  apart,  entirely 
outside  of  the  State  organization,  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
secluded  in  ghettoes,  marked  by  badges  so  that  they 
should  be  recognized  by  all,  loaded  with  disabilities — in 
fact,  in  many  cases  possessing  no  rights  whatsoever, 
aliens  and  outlaws  in  every  land.  The  Jews  everywhere 
were  driven  in  upon  themselves.  No  interests  were 
allowed  to  them  outside  of  Jewry.  Assimilation  in  the 
larger  population  was  impossible.  The  Jew  who  escaped 
massacre  remained  a  Jew.  No  third  course  was  possible, 
except  for  a  few  occasional  renegades,  who  were  not  only 
religious  apostates,  but  also  traitors  to  their  people.  The 
Jews,  driven  back  upon  themselves,  had  recourse  to  their 
vast  literature,  all  of  which,  dealing  with  many  aspects 
of  life,  was  permeated  with  that  nationalistic  outlook  with 
which  Judaism  as  a  religion  is  inextricably  intertwined. 
Throughout  those  centuries  until  to-day,  wherever  the  lot 
of  Jewry  is  a  hard  one,  Judaism  is,  in  fact,  Zionism — a 
longing  for  release  from  the  present  miseries  by  the 
restoration  to  the  land  of  their  fathers.  It  is  only  in 
those  lands  where  the  Jew  is  free  to  live  as  the  equal  of 
his  neighbours,  and  where  in  consequence  the  disintegra- 
tion of  Jewry — assimilation — has  set  in,  that  Zionism 
fails  to  coincide  with  Judaism.  It  is  there  that  syn- 
agogues have  been  founded  that  have  no  place  for  Zion 
or  the  Restoration  in  their  ritual,  and  that  other  congre- 
gations are  to  be  found  which,  while  retaining  the  Zion- 
istic  prayers  in  their  services,  recite  them  perfunctorily 
— merely  as  an  archaeological  survival.  Among  the 
assimilated  Jews  of  Western  Europe  and  America  the 
nationalistic  idea  has  little  force.  It  is  in  the  lands  of 
oppression  only,  that  the  prayers  for  Zion  have  their 
full  meaning. 


Zionist  Idea  Before  Theodore  Herzl     161 

The  Zionism  which  has  been  an  integral  part  of 
Judaism  for  the  past  eighteen  centuries  has  until  very- 
recent  times  been  a  purely  religious  hope.  Throughout 
those  centuries  the  Return  to  Zion  has  been  prayed  for, 
and  hoped  for,  and  expected,  but  not  as  a  result  of  human 
foresight  or  human  exertions.  It  was  to  come  as  a 
miracle,  presented  to  the  Jews  by  a  heaven-sent  Messiah 
who  was  suddenly  to  appear  and  to  lead  them  back  to 
Palestine.  This  was  the  Zionism  which  was  universal  in 
Jewry  for  almost  the  entire  period  which  has  elapsed 
since  the  destruction  of  the  Jewish  State.  This  longing 
for  Palestine,  this  unquenchable  hope  for  the  Messiah 
who  was  to  lead  them  back  to  their  land,  permeates  the 
Jewish  liturgy.  In  the  very  many  periods  of  darkness 
which  are  to  be  found  in  the  history  of  Jewry  during  the 
past  eighteen  centuries  this  longing  for  Palestine  is  the 
only  spark  of  light.  If  it  had  been  quenched  Jewry 
would  have  disappeared  with  it,  and  Jews  and  Judaism, 
like  the  other  peoples  and  faiths  of  antiquity,  would  have 
belonged  entirely  to  the  realm  of  archaeology. 

Unfortunately  for  the  peace  of  mind  of  Jewry,  this 
ceaseless  longing  for  the  Messiah  led  to  many  false  hopes 
and  disappointments.  In  fact,  from  the  days  of  Bar 
Cochba  until  the  last  century,  except  for  brief  intervals, 
Jewry  in  one  country  or  another  was  never  without  a 
claimant  to  Messianic  attributes.  Every  one  of  these 
pseudo-Messiahs,  no  matter  how  obvious  his  charlatanry, 
has  had  a  following.  Every  one  has  included  the  Restor- 
ation to  Palestine  in  his  programme.  Every  one  without 
exception  has  brought  misfortunes  on  his  people.  Moses 
of  Crete,  in  the  fifth  century,  led  the  Jews  of  the  island 
into  the  sea,  where  many  of  them  were  drowned.  Isaac 
ben  Obadiah,  of  Ispahan,  two  centuries  later,  was,  with 


162  Palestine 

many  of  his  followers,  killed  in  battle  by  the  army  of  the 
Caliph.  Serenus,  a  Syrian,  not  many  years  later,  ad- 
mitted when  arrested  that  he  had  been  deluding  his 
followers.  David  Alroy,  the  hero  of  Lord  Beaconsfield's 
Zionistic  novel,  was  killed  in  battle  against  the  Sultan. 
His  followers  had  to  pay  the  penalty  for  the  rising. 
Abraham  ben  Samuel  Abulafia  in  the  thirteenth  century 
actually  attempted  to  convert  the  Pope  to  Judaism.  The 
reaction  which  followed  the  failure  of  fulfilment  of  the 
prophecies  of  Nissim  ben  Abraham,  of  Avila,  led  to  the 
adoption  of  Christianity  by  many  of  his  deluded  fol- 
lowers. Asher  Lammlein,  of  Istria,  at  the  beginning  of 
the  sixteenth  century  drew  disciples  from  among  Chris- 
tians as  well  as  Jews,  but  his  prophecies  were  not  ful- 
filled. David  Reubeni,  the  ambassador  of  the  Jewish 
King  of  Khaibar  to  the  Portuguese  Court,  had  Messianic 
attributes  thrust  upon  him  against  his  will,  by  the  suf- 
fering Crypto-Jews  of  Portugal.  His  contemporary 
Solomon  Molcho,  himself  one  of  these  Crypto-Jews, 
claimed  to  be  not  the  Messiah  himself,  but  his  prophet. 
He  gained  widespread  adhesion  to  his  claims,  and  even 
the  personal  protection  of  the  Pope,  Clement  VII.,  not 
only  by  his  eloquence,  his  fervour,  and  his  sincerity,  but 
also  by  the  fulfilment  of  his  non-Messianic  prophecies. 
Isaac  Luria,  in  the  same  century,  claimed  also  to  be  the 
forerunner  of  the  Messiah,  the  greater  office  being  taken 
to  himself  by  his  disciple,  Hayyim  Vital  Calabrese,  who 
had,  however,  to  contend  with  a  rival  Messiah  in  the 
person  of  Abraham  Shalom.  Of  all  the  pseudo-Messiahs, 
however,  the  most  influential,  the  one  fraught  with  the 
most  serious  consequences  to  the  fortunes  of  Jewry,  was 
Sabbathai  Zevi  of  Smyrna  (1621  or  1626-1676).  His 
claims  and  adventures  affected  the  politics  of  Europe. 


Zionist  Idea  Before  Theodore  Herzl     163 

At  one  period  of  his  romantic  career  the  exchanges  of 
Germany,  Holland,  and  England  were  idle  while  the 
merchants  discussed  his  claims  and  their  possible  authen- 
ticity. Tributes  and  embassies  came  to  him  from  all 
quarters  of  the  world.  His  birthday  was  made  a  day  of 
rejoicing  in  the  Jewish  liturgy.  Solemn  fast  days  were 
abrogated  in  his  honour.  The  Jews  of  the  East  and  of 
the  West  abandoned  their  daily  work  and  prepared  for 
the  Return  to  Zion.  Prophets  arose  in  all  the  Jewries 
of  Europe  and  Asia,  and  proclaimed  Sabbathai  as  the 
Messiah.  Christians,  both  in  Turkey  and  in  Europe,  also 
accepted  his  claims.  The  Protestants  of  Hamburg 
appealed  to  their  pastor  to  direct  them  in  their  great 
emergency.  "What  will  become  of  the  Christian  doc- 
trine and  the  belief  in  our  Messiah  ? ' '  they  asked.  The 
Sabbathai  Messiahship,  however,  burst  like  a  bubble, 
pricked  by  the  threat  of  the  Sultan.  Sabbathai,  in  order 
to  save  his  life,  became  a  Moslem,  and  the  number  of  his 
supporters  who  followed  his  example  almost  threatened 
Turkish  Jewry  with  annihilation.  The  apostasy  of  Sab- 
bathai, and  even  his  death  nine  years  later,  did  not  mean 
the  end  of  the  Sabbathaian  cult.  It  was  claimed  that  his 
Mohammedanism  was  merely  a  necessary  phase  in  the 
career  of  the  Messiah.  The  controversies  that  sur- 
rounded him  continued  to  divide  Jewry  for  generations 
after  his  death,  and  even  to-day  in  Salonica  and  Con- 
stantinople are  to  be  found  the  Donmeh,  a  sect  of  Mos- 
lemized  Jews,  descended  from  Sabbathai 's  followers,  to 
whom  his  claims  still  hold  something  of  the  truth. 

After  Sabbathai  came  many  other  pseudo-Messiahs, 
none  of  whom,  however,  attained  to  anything  like  the 
notoriety  of  the  prophet  of  Smyrna.  Most  prominent 
among  them  was  Jacob  Frank,  of  Podolia,  who  ultimately 


164  Palestine 

led  his  followers  over  to  Christianity.  As  recently  as 
the  year  1889  one  Joseph  Abdallah,  a  Jew,  appeared  in 
Sanaa,  in  Arabia,  and  claimed  that  he  had  been  sent  to 
lead  his  co-religionists  back  to  the  Promised  Land. 

Contemporary  with  many  of  these  Jewish  pseudo- 
Messiahs  were  many  Christian  millennarians  who  also 
looked  longingly  toward  the  Restoration  of  Israel. 
Those  in  England  during  the  time  of  the  Commonwealth 
gave  some  assistance  towards  the  readmission  of  the  Jews 
into  England.  It  is  also  certain  that  their  dreams  and 
prophecies  gave  some  encouragement  to  the  pretensions 
of  Sabbathai  Zevi.  A  few  years  later  Holger  Paulli,  a 
Dane  who  believed  himself  to  be  of  remote  Jewish 
ancestry,  created  much  excitement  in  both  Jewish  and 
Christian  circles  on  the  Continent.  Such  an  one  also 
was  an  Italian  contemporary,  Johann  Peter  Spaeth,  who 
ultimately  adopted  Judaism. 

The  religious  Zionist  was,  and  is,  essentially  a  man  of 
hope,  not  of  action.  To  him  the  Messiah  will  come  and 
Israel  will  be  restored  to  his  heritage  "in  God's  good 
time."  To  attempt  to  hasten  that  time  would  be  ineffec- 
tive; it  would  be  an  endeavour  to  force  the  hand  of 
Providence — almost  a  blasphemy.  The  part  of  man  in 
the  Restoration  is  confined  to  hope  and  prayer.  These 
people  naturally  expect  the  restored  Jewish  State  to  be 
a  theocracy  as  in  Old  Testament  times,  governed  by  the 
Rabbinical  Code.  Until  the  nineteenth  century — the  era 
of  Jewish  emancipation — this  point  of  view  monopolized 
the  field  in  Jewish  thought.  The  French  Revolution, 
which  broke  down  the  intellectual  as  well  as  the  physical 
walls  of  the  ghettoes  of  Western  Europe,  however, 
brought  with  it  a  change  in  the  attitude  of  Jewish  thought 
towards  Palestine.    In  some  quarters  the  result  was,  as 


Zionist  Idea  Before  Theodore  Herzl     165 

has  already  been  mentioned,  to  expunge  Palestine  alto- 
gether, either  in  reality  or  in  effect,  from  the  Jewish 
liturgy  and  Jewish  thought.  For  the  most  part  Zionism 
was  quite  quiescent.  But  when  Anti-Semitism  arose  in 
the  lands  of  the  "West,  and  the  persecution  of  the  Jews 
became  still  more  intense  in  those  of  the  East,  the  promise 
of  Emancipation,  of  Liberalism,  and  of  the  era  of  the 
Rights  of  Man,  was  found  not  to  be  fulfilled,  and  the 
minds  of  thinkers  began  again  to  turn  towards  Pales- 
tine— not,  however,  as  the  fulfilment  of  a  distant  religious 
hope,  but  as  a  means  of  solving  an  insistent  political 
problem,  of  finding  a  land  of  refuge  for  the  victims  of 
persecution. 

The  practical  use  of  Palestine  as  a  means  of  solving,  or 
of  partly  solving,  the  question  of  the  Jews  of  Europe  had 
occurred  to  Napoleon.  Whether  or  not  he  was  sincere 
in  his  offer  to  the  Jews  of  the  East  cannot  be  said ;  they 
distrusted  either  his  desire  or  his  capacity  to  fulfil  his 
promises.  In  France,  however,  some  sympathy  was 
shown  with  some  such  project,  as  is  evidenced  in  a  letter 
to  the  Jews  of  France  published  by  one  of  them,  who 
remained  anonymous,  in  1798.  The  proposal  of  this 
writer  was  that  the  Jews  of  the  world  should  appoint  a 
representative  council  to  treat  with  the  French  Govern- 
ment for  the  restoration  of  Palestine  to  the  Jewish 
people.  "The  country  we  propose  to  occupy  shall 
include  (subject  to  such  arrangements  as  shall  be  agree- 
able to  France)  Lower  Egypt,  with  the  addition  of  a 
district,  which  shall  have  for  its  limits  a  line  running 
from  Acre  to  the  Dead  Sea,  and  from  the  south  point  of 
that  lake  to  the  Red  Sea."  The  writer  was  the  first 
member  of  a  new  school  of  Zionists.  He  looked  forward 
to  the  creation  of  a  State  economically  independent. 


166  Palestine 

"This  position,"  he  continued,  "which  is  the  most  advan- 
tageous in  the  world,  will  render  us,  by  the  navigation  of 
the  Red  Sea,  masters  of  the  commerce  of  India,  Arabia, 
the  south  and  east  of  Africa,  Abyssinia,  and  Ethio- 
pia. .  .  .  The  neighbourhood  of  Aleppo  and  Damascus 
will  facilitate  our  commerce  with  Persia;  and  by  the 
Mediterranean  we  may  communicate  with  Spain,  France, 
Italy,  and  the  rest  of  Europe.  Placed  in  the  centre  of 
the  world,  our  country  will  become  the  entrepot  of  all 
the  rich  and  precious  productions  of  the  earth."  The 
writer  must  not,  however,  be  considered  merely  a  mate- 
rialist, for  in  a  burst  of  fervour  he  concludes :  "Oh,  my 
brethren !  "What  sacrifices  ought  we  not  to  make  to 
attain  this  object?  We  shall  return  to  our  country — we 
shall  live  under  our  own  laws — we  shall  behold  those 
sacred  places  which  our  ancestors  illustrated  with  their 
courage  and  their  virtues.  I  already  see  you  all  animated 
with  a  holy  zeal.  Israelites!  The  term  of  your  mis- 
fortune is  at  hand.  The  opportunity  is  favourable. 
Take  care  you  do  not  allow  it  to  escape."  Nevertheless, 
the  letter  met  with  no  response.  The  hour  had  not  yet 
struck ;  for  Israel  was  either  still  in  bondage  or  (only  just 
released  from  it)  still  incapable  of  standing  upright. 

Thirty  years  later  another  French  Jew,  Joseph  Salva- 
dor, the  historian  and  the  intellectual  head  of  French 
Jewry,  asked  for  the  summoning  of  an  international  con- 
gress in  order  to  restore  Jewry  to  its  ancient  home. 
Twelve  years  previously  Mordecai  Manuel  Noah,  perhaps 
the  most  distinguished  Jew  of  his  day  in  American  public 
life,  had  first  given  public  expression  to  his  schemes  and 
hopes  for  the  Restoration  of  the  Jews.  "Never  were 
prospects  for  the  restoration  of  the  Jewish  nation  to 
their  ancient  rights  and  dominion  more  brilliant  than  at 


Zionist  Idea  Before  Theodore  Herzl     167 

present.  .  .  .  The  signal  for  breaking  the  Turkish  sceptre 
in  Europe  will  be  their  emancipation  .  .  .  they  will  assist 
to  establish  civilization  in  European  Turkey  .  .  .  they 
will  march  in  triumphant  numbers,  and  possess  them- 
selves once  more  of  Syria,  and  take  their  rank  among 
the  governments  of  the  earth.  .  .  .  Let  us  then  hope  that 
the  day  is  not  far  distant  when,  from  the  operation  of 
liberal  and  enlightened  measures,  we  may  look  towards 
that  country  where  our  people  have  established  a  mild, 
just,  and  honourable  government,  accredited  by  the  world 
and  admired  by  all  good  men. ' ' 

This  was  only  a  hope.  To  assist  towards  its  realization 
Noah  set  about  establishing  a  temporary  Jewish  State, 
of  which  he  constituted  himself  "Governor  and  Judge 
of  Israel,"  on  Grand  Island,  in  the  Niagara  River.  The 
State,  and  also  the  proclamations  of  its  "Governor"  to 
the  Jews  of  the  world,  were  not  taken  seriously  by  any 
of  them,  and  "Ararat,"  as  the  new  "State"  was  some- 
what contemptuously  called,  was  soon  forgotten.  Later 
in  life  Noah  returned  to  his  Zionist  dreams.  An  address 
on  the  Restoration  of  the  Jews,  which  he  gave  in  New 
York  in  1844,  he  reprinted  as  a  pamphlet  the  following 
year.  Here  again  he  affirmed  his  belief  that  the  shape 
political  events  were  assuming  would  lead  to  the  con- 
summation he  desired.  "The  political  events  in  Syria, 
Egypt,  Turkey,  and  Russia  indicate  the  approach  of 
great  and  important  revolutions,  which  may  facilitate  the 
return  of  the  Jews  to  Jerusalem,  and  the  organization 
of  a  powerful  government  in  Judrea,  and  lead  to  that 
millennium  which  we  all  look  for,  all  hope  for,  all  pray 
for."  Noah  certainly  possessed  some  political  foresight, 
as  the  following  passage — written,  it  must  be  remembered, 
over  seventy  years  ago — shows :    "England  must  possess 


168  Palestine 

Egypt,  as  affording  the  only  secure  route  to  her  posses- 
sions in  India  through  the  Red  Sea ;  then  Palestine,  thus 
placed  between  the  Russian  possessions  and  Egypt, 
reverts  to  its  legitimate  proprietors,  and  for  the  safety 
of  the  surrounding  nations,  a  powerful,  wealthy,  inde- 
pendent, and  enterprising  people  are  placed  there,  by  and 
with  the  consent  of  the  Christian  Powers,  and  with  their 
aid  and  agency,  the  land  of  Israel  passes  once  more  into 
the  possession  of  the  descendants  of  Abraham.  The  ports 
of  the  Mediterranean  will  be  again  opened  to  the  busy 
hum  of  commerce ;  the  fields  will  again  bear  the  fruitful 
harvest,  and  Christian  and  Jew  will  together  on  Mount 
Zion  raise  their  voices  in  praise  of  Him  whose  convenant 
with  Abraham  was  to  endure  for  ever,  and  in  whose  seed 
all  the  nations  of  the  earth  are  to  be  blessed. ' ' 

Noah  again,  despite  his  earnestness  and  his  eloquence, 
failed  to  get  a  response.  Even  the  Jews  of  America 
remained  cold.  Isaac  Leeser,  the  most  prominent  Ameri- 
can Jewish  publicist  of  the  day,  discouraged  the  project, 
not  because  it  was  impracticable,  for  the  Sultan  would 
probably  grant  with  readiness  the  privilege  of  holding 
real  estate  "and  any  other  requisite  to  carry  out  coloniz- 
ing Israelites  in  large  numbers  in  Syria  and  Palestine," 
but  because  in  his  opinion  the  European  Powers  would 
never  tolerate  an  independent  State  at  the  very  outlet  of 
the  commerce  of  the  Mediterranean  and  the  Arabian  Gulf, 
commanding  the  land  routes  from  north  to  south  and  the 
sea  routes  between  Asia  and  Europe. 

In  the  year  1833  Benjamin  Disraeli  published  his 
"Alroy,"  a  Zionist  romance,  in  which  the  author  said 
he  had  portrayed  his  "ideal  ambition."  Seven  years 
later  came  another  call  to  the  Jews  from  one  of  their 
brethren  who  had  succeeded  in  preserving  his  anonymity. 


Zionist  Idea  Before  Theodore  Herzl     169 

The  writer,  a  German,  also  sees  in  the  then  apparently 
impending  break-up  of  the  Turkish  Empire  the  hope  of 
the  Jews:  "It  needs  no  extraordinary  effort  to  take 
possession  of  Syria,  at  least  under  the  Egyptian  suprem- 
acy. If  the  Servians  and  Greeks  have  found  protection, 
why  should  not  we?  .  .  .  France  lavishes  blood  and 
treasure  to  civilize  Africa;  India  flourishes  under  the 
British  sceptre ;  the  hordes  of  the  Mongols  learn  agricul- 
ture under  the  strong  hand  of  Russia ;  shall  no  Govern- 
ment be  found  to  rescue  Syria  from  desolating  anarchy, 
to  erect  there  a  school  of  humanity  and  civilization  for 
the  East?"  This  eloquent  appeal  also  seems  to  have 
fallen  on  deaf  ears,  although  the  American  historian 
who  published  it  in  English  a  few  years  later  mentioned 
a  probably  apocryphal  petition  presented  by  thirty 
thousand  Polish  Jews  to  the  Czar  asking  for  permission 
to  proceed  to  Palestine  to  await  the  coming  of  the  Messiah, 
and  promising,  if  three  years  passed  without  his  advent, 
to  return  to  Poland  and  adopt  Christianity. 

Henceforward  Zionist  projects  appeared  more  fre- 
quently. The  middle  years  of  the  century  saw  those  of 
Warder  Cresson,  the  American  Consul  at  Jerusalem, 
who  afterwards  became  a  Jew,  taking  the  name  of 
Michael  Boaz  Israel,  and  of  Abraham  Benisch,  the  Editor 
of  the  Jewish  Chronicle,  and  Solomon  Sequerra,  both  of 
London.  Cresson,  who  found  support  in  England  and 
Germany  as  well  as  in  the  United  States,  proposed  to 
relieve  the  existing  distress  among  the  Jews  of  Palestine 
by  employing  them  on  the  land,  and  the  oppression  of 
the  Jews  elsewhere  by  enabling  them  to  settle  in  the  Holy 
Land.  He  was  able  to  commence  agricultural  work  in 
the  Vale  of  Rephaim,  but  the  support  forthcoming  was 
insufficient  to  put  the  larger  plan  into  operation,  or  even 


170  Palestine 

to  put  the  smaller  one  on  a  permanent  basis.  Cresson's 
projects  were,  however,  of  considerable  educational  value, 
and  if  they  themselves  withered  even  in  his  lifetime,  they 
left  seeds  behind  which  fructified. 

Benisch,  when  a  student  at  the  Vienna  University,  had 
been  one  of  the  founders  of  a  Jewish  Students'  Society 
for  the  Furtherance  of  the  Resettlement  of  Jews  in 
Palestine,  and  had  come  to  England  in  the  first  instance 
to  gain  support  for  that  idea.  In  this  he  was  not  success- 
ful, but  he  settled  in  England,  together  with  Albert 
Lowy,  one  of  his  colleagues  in  Vienna.  These  both  in 
course  of  time  attained  to  influential  positions  in  the 
Jewish  community,  and  were  able  to  influence  it  in  many 
directions  to  the  advantage  of  their  less  fortunate 
co-religionists  abroad.  The  project  of  Benisch  and 
Sequerra  had  the  support  of  a  committee  of  English 
Christians  which  included  John  Mills,  an  author  and 
Calvinistic  Methodist  minister;  "William  Henry  Black, 
the  antiquary;  and  Sir  Hugh  Owen,  the  promoter  of 
Welsh  education  and  philanthropist.  Their  objects  were 
to  settle  Jews  in  Palestine  with  the  grant  of  local  au- 
tonomous government,  and  to  develop  the  land  by  means 
of  the  improvement  of  roads,  harbours,  etc.  The  pro- 
posed society  intended  to  seek  the  support  of  the  British 
and  foreign  Governments  in  their  negotiations  with  the 
Porte.  This  project  also  failed  through  want  of  sup- 
port. 

During  the  following  two  decades  suggestions  for  the 
resettlement  of  the  Jews  in  Palestine  were  relatively 
frequent.  In  1852  an  English  political  writer  published 
a  pamphlet,  "Remarks  upon  the  Present  Condition  of 
the  Jews  in  Palestine,"  advocating  the  creation  of  a 
Jewish   State,   partly  in  the  interests   of  the   British 


Zionist  Idea  Before  Theodore  Herzl     171 

Empire,  to  safeguard  the  overland  route  to  India.  Of  a 
different  character  was  the  advocacy  of  his  contemporary, 
the  great  Italian  Jewish  philologist,  poet,  and  Biblical 
scholar,  Samuel  David  Luzzatto,  who  wrote:  "Palestine 
must  be  peopled  by  Jews  and  tilled  by  them,  so  that  it 
may  flourish  economically  and  agriculturally,  and  take 
on  beauty  and  glory." 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  ERA  OF  THE  "CHOVEVE  ZION" 

Hitherto  these  plans  and  proposals,  all  tending  towards 
a  common  object,  although  often  by  different  means,  had 
been  spasmodic,  unrelated  to  one  another,  even  in  most 
cases  unconscious  of  one  another's  existence.  They 
might  almost  be  termed  blind  instinctive  feelings  towards 
a  goal  far  out  of  reach  of  their  outstretched  hands.  From 
this  time  forward,  however,  one  begins  to  see  some  con- 
nexion between  the  Zionist  plans  and  projects,  which 
multiplied  with  ever  greater  frequency.  Judah  Alkalai, 
a  Croatian  Rabbi;  Hirsch  Kalischer,  a  Prussian  Rabbi; 
and  Moses  Hess,  a  German  socialist  publicist — all  three 
of  whom  turned  their  attention  to  the  Palestinian  aspects 
of  the  Jewish  Question  during  the  first  years  of  the 
second  half  of  the  nineteenth  century — were  in  direct 
spiritual  relationship  with  one  another.  Alkalai  from 
1857  onwards  published  several  treatises  advocating  the 
Restoration.  His  plan  was  to  form  a  Jewish  chartered 
company  which  should  obtain  from  the  Sultan  the  cession 
of  Palestine  as  a  tributary  State,  such  as  the  Danubian 
principalities  (Roumania)  then  were  or  the  Lebanon  is 
now.  From  the  letters  of  approval  from  many  eminent 
Jewish  scholars  which  Alkalai  published,  the  advance 
which  Zionism  was  at  length  beginning  to  make  in  Jewish 
public  thought  was  evident. 
Kalischer  went  even  further  than  Alkalai.    In  his 

172 


Era  of  the  "Choveve  Zion"  173 

writings  lie  too  advocated  with  no  uncertain  note  the 
resettlement  of  the  Jews  in  Palestine.  His  plan  was  the 
agricultural  colonization  of  Palestine  by  the  wretched 
Jews  of  the  East.  To  effect  this  purpose  he  proposed  to 
collect  funds  for  the  purchase  and  cultivation  of  the  land, 
to  found  a  school  of  agriculture  so  as  to  supply  experts 
for  the  colonies  that  were  to  be  established,  and  to  form 
a  Jewish  military  guard  for  the  protection  of  the  latter. 
Directly  from  Kalischer  's  writings,  which  spread  through 
Germany,  came  the  establishment  of  Jewish  colonization 
societies  for  the  furtherance  of  his  scheme.  Among  the 
Jews  of  Russia  also  his  writings  in  Hebrew  created  for 
him  a  band  of  supporters.  Kalischer 's  ideas,  taken  up 
by  Charles  Netter,  led  to  the  establishment  by  the  Alliance 
Israelite  of  the  Jewish  Agricultural  School  at  Mikweh 
Israel.  Another  fruit  of  his  movement  was  the  founda- 
tion of  a  colony  by  Kalischer  himself  near  Lake  Tiberias. 
Kalischer  had  been  offered  the  office  of  Rabbi  of  the 
Mikweh  Israel  settlement,  but  felt  compelled,  on  account 
of  his  age,  to  decline  it.  His  own  colony  was  not  a  suc- 
cess, and  by  the  short-sighted  the  whole  of  his  efforts 
might,  with  one  solitary  exception,  be  considered  a 
failure.  The  seed  he  sowed,  although  it  failed  to  fructify 
in  his  own  lifetime,  did  not  die  in  the  ground.  Fragile 
and  delicate,  it  yet  helped  to  keep  alive  the  idea  which, 
growing  with  the  years  and  gaining  strength  with  the 
generations,  ultimately  realized  the  furthest  ideals  of 
which  Kalischer  in  his  most  optimistic  moments  had 
dreamt. 

Similar  views  were  put  forward  at  this  time  by  David 
Gordon,  the  Russo- Jewish  journalist — who  had,  it  is 
interesting  to  note,  lived  for  a  few  years  in  Liverpool — 
and  Elijah  Guttmacher.     The  great  intellectual  leader 


174  Palestine 

of  the  still  inchoate  movement  in  the  early  sixties  was, 
however,  Moses  Hess,  the  socialist  free-thinker,  who  had 
early  abandoned  Judaism  as  a  faith,  and  was  in  most 
matters  the  antithesis  of  the  Rabbi  Kalischer.  Hess 
owed  his  reconversion  to  Judaism,  or  his  conversion  to 
Zionism,  like  many  another  of  the  leaders  of  Jewish 
nationalism,  to  an  outbreak  of  persecution.  The  Damas- 
cus affair  of  1840  awakened  him  to  the  bitterness  of  the 
Jewish  agony ;  the  shortcomings  of  the  Liberal  movement 
in  Europe  opened  his  eyes  to  the  precariousness  of  the 
Jewish  position  even  in  civilized  lands.  At  this  critical 
moment  in  his  intellectual  career  the  writings  of  Kalis- 
cher, of  Gordon,  and  of  Guttmacher,  attracted  his  atten- 
tion. The  outstanding  result  of  these  influences  was  the 
publication  in  1862  of  "Rome  and  Jerusalem:  the  Last 
Nationality  Question, ' '  wherein  Hess  indicated  his  belief 
that  the  only  solution  of  the  Jewish  Question  lay  in  the 
Resettlement  in  Palestine.  For  by  the  other  peoples  Jews 
will  always  be  considered  strangers,  liable  to  suffer  from 
the  blind  prejudice  which  overcomes  the  wisest  nation  at 
times ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  eighteen  hundred  years  of 
history  and  of  unexampled  suffering  had  shown  that, 
despite  inconceivable  persecution,  the  Jewish  race  was 
indestructible.  It  was  for  these  reasons  that  Hess  saw 
the  only  solution  of  the  Jewish  Question  in  the  reconstitu- 
tion  of  the  Jewish  nation.  The  Jew  would  then  still  be 
a  stranger  among  the  peoples,  but  he  would  be  a  stranger 
with  a  status.  And  he,  the  former  German  of  Jewish 
origin,  went  so  far  as  to  say  that  if  the  Jews  found  social 
and  political  emancipation  in  Europe  incompatible  with 
the  preservation  of  their  nationality,  emancipation  would 
have  to  be  sacrificed.  Hess  had  been  settled  in  France 
for  some  years,  and  he  looked  to  the  aid  of  that  nation  for 


Era  of  the  "Choveve  Zion"  175 

the  practical  solution  of  the  problem.  He  relied  on 
France  to  assist  the  Jews  to  colonize  Palestine,  remember- 
ing that  France  and  French  writers  in  the  past  had  shown 
sympathy  with  such  a  project. 

Two  years  after  the  publication  of  "Rome  and  Jeru- 
salem," French  Jewry  itself  produced  an  advocate  of 
Jewish  nationalism  in  the  unexpected  guise  of  a  banker 
and  politician,  Lazar  Levy-Bing,  who,  on  his  part,  owed 
his  inspiration  to  a  Protestant  pastor  and  professor, 
Abraham  Petavel,  whose  pamphlet,  "The  Duty  of  the 
Nations  to  restore  to  the  Jews  their  Nationality, ' '  created 
some  stir  in  Jewish  circles.  Even  Bismarck  is  stated  at 
this  time  to  have  given  some  encouragement  to  the  idea 
of  the  restoration  of  the  Jewish  State,  and  in  1880  to 
have  taken  some  steps  in  that  direction  in  his  private 
capacity.  Far  more  active  in  the  same  direction  was 
Henry  Dunant,  the  founder  of  the  Red  Cross  Movement 
and  the  inspirer  of  the  Geneva  Convention,  who  actually 
founded  an  International  Palestine  Society,  and  a  Syrian 
and  Palestinian  Colonization  Society,  and  laboured 
strenuously  in  their  interests  for  a  period  of  thirteen 
years.  But  he  was  powerless  to  overcome  the  apathy  of 
the  Jews  of  Western  Europe,  who,  immersed  in  an 
atmosphere  of  assimilation,  considered  the  present  of 
supreme  importance  when  compared  not  only  with  the 
past,  but  also  with  the  future. 

A  few  years  before  Dunant  had  abandoned  all  hope  of 
converting  the  Jews  of  "Western  Europe  to  his  Zionist 
projects,  Perez  Smolenskin,  a  Russo- Jewish  man  of 
letters,  commenced  his  literary  campaign  on  behalf  of 
Jewish  nationalism.  His  "Am  Olam"  (The  Eternal 
People),  published  in  1873,  is  his  principal  work  in  this 
campaign,  and  was  also  the  first  Hebrew  book  in  which 


176  Palestine 

the  Messianic  idea  was  given  a  purely  nationalistic 
clothing.  The  fire  of  Jewish  nationalism,  kindled  by 
Kalischer  and  Hess,  and  fanned  by  Sinolenskin  's  writings, 
burnt  yet  more  brightly,  and  spread  yet  farther  among 
the  Jewish  masses.  It  was  still,  however,  but  an  ideal, 
not  yet  a  matter  of  practical  politics.  Even  in  England, 
in  a  soil  least  suited  to  Jewish  idealism,  the  Jewish 
national  idea  was  not  without  some  influence.  George 
Eliot,  in  her  "  Daniel  Deronda,"  made  a  stirring  appeal 
to  the  Jews  of  the  West  to  resume  their  duties  and  their 
privileges,  to  form  once  again  a  nation  that  shall  lead  the 
van  of  civilization  as  their  ancestors  did  of  yore.  ''Let 
the  torch  of  visible  community  be  lit !  Let  the  reason  of 
Israel  disclose  itself  in  a  great  outward  deed,  let  there  be 
another  great  migration,  another  choosing  of  Israel  to 
be  a  nationality  whose  members  may  still  stretch  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth  .  .  .  but  who  will  still  have  a  national 
hearth  and  a  tribunal  of  national  opinion.  .  .  .  Let  the 
central  fire  be  kindled  again,  and  the  light  will  reach 
afar.  The  degraded  and  scorned  of  our  race  will  learn 
to  think  of  their  sacred  land  ...  as  a  republic  where 
the  Jewish  spirit  manifests  itself  in  a  new  order  founded 
on  the  old,  purified,  enriched,  by  the  experience  our 
greatest  sons  have  gathered  from  the  life  of  the  ages.  .  .  . 
The  Messianic  time  is  the  time  when  Israel  shall  will  the 
planting  of  the  national  ensign.  .  .  .  Let  us  help  to  will 
our  own  better  future  and  the  better  future  of  the  world 
— not  renounce  the  higher  gift  .  .  .  but  choose  our  full 
heritage,  claim  the  brotherhood  of  our  nation,  and  carry 
it  into  a  new  brotherhood  with  the  nations  of  the 
Gentiles."  But  George  Eliot  was  still  in  advance  of  the 
times. 

Laurence   Oliphant  and   Cazalet,   of   whose  schemes 


Era  of  the  "Choveve  Zion"  177 

mention  lias  been  made  in  a  previous  chapter,  were  a 
little  nearer,  but  an  impetus  was  necessary  in  order  to 
introduce  the  spark  of  actuality  into  all  these  Zionist 
visions,  to  bring  the  dreams  of  the  dreamers  into  relation 
with  life.  This  impetus  was  given  by  the  Russian 
massacres  which  appalled  Europe  in  the  years  1881  and 
1882.  Incidentally  this  orgy  of  barbarism  sent  back 
voluntarily  into  Jewry  thousands  of  her  sons,  who, 
warmed  by  the  sun  of  temporary  freedom,  had  wandered 
far  from  her  temples,  and  had  been  considered  by  their 
mother-people  as  practically  lost.  Directly  or  indirectly 
Leo  Pinsker,  Moses  Lilienblum,  Lev  Levanda,  Asher 
Ginzberg,  Nathan  Birnbaum,  and,  on  another  plane  and 
in  a  different  hemisphere,  Emma  Lazarus,  were  all,  as 
leaders  of  Zionist  thought,  products  of  the  atrocities  of 
that  terrible  year,  or  owed  much  of  their  development  to 
them.  The  Choveve  Zion  Movement  was  born  of  the  same 
agony  of  Russian  Jewry.  Pinsker,  a  Russian  physician 
and  Jewish  leader,  lulled  by  the  humane  government  of 
Alexander  II.,  had  trusted  to  the  era  of  Liberalism,  in 
whose  guarantees  he  believed  the  future  of  the  Jews  of 
civilization  secure.  But  the  year  1881  was  a  rude 
awakening  for  him.  Previous  to  that  year  Pinsker 's 
public  labours  had  been  directed  towards  the  emancipa- 
tion of  the  Jews  of  Russia.  Henceforward  he  recognized 
that  the  hope  of  Jewry  rested  rather  without  than  within 
the  Russian  Empire.  His  "Auto-Emancipation,"  pub- 
lished anonymously,  crystallized  the  opinions  which  cir- 
cumstances had  developed.  He  did  not  ask  for  a  Jewish 
State,  but  for  a  "home"  for  the  Jewish  people,  for  Jewish 
ideals.  At  first  the  locale  of  this  home  was  almost 
immaterial.  It  was  Judaism  and  the  Bible  that  had  made 
Palestine  holy,  and  would  make  any  other  land  equally 


178  Palestine 

holy.  He  was  soon,  however,  convinced  that  Palestine 
was  the  only  possible  home.  He  looked  to  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Jewish  people  to  obtain  for  them  a  home  there. 
His  first  expectation  was  that  the  Jewish  organizations  of 
France,  Austria,  and  England  would  take  the  lead,  but 
on  second  thought  he  considered  a  body  of  representa- 
tives of  Jewry  chosen  for  the  definite  purpose  the  more 
suitable.  Above  all,  he  emphasized  the  necessity  for  a 
modus  vivendi  with  the  Porte.  The  results  of  Pinsker 's 
efforts  did  not  fully  realize  his  anticipations.  Unable 
to  attain  his  larger  objects,  he  contented  himself  with  less. 
Out  of  his  teachings  grew  the  Choveve  Zion  Movement, 
of  which  he  became  the  head  in  Russia.  Compared  with 
his  own  schemes,  the  realization  was  almost  parochial, 
but  it  served  to  keep  alive  the  Zionist  idea,  and  to  prepare 
the  way  for  the  greater  movement  which  was  to  follow. 
Pinsker  died  in  1891. 

Moses  Lilienblum,  a  Russo-Jewish  litterateur,  also 
owed  in  effect  his  conversion  to  the  pogroms  of  1881. 
The  mental  course  he  followed  was  very  similar  to  that  of 
Pinsker.  As  early  as  1876  Lilienblum  had  written  in 
favour  of  the  acquisition  of  Palestine  for  Jewry.  The 
appearance  in  the  Zionist  field  of  Pinsker  definitely 
brought  Lilienblum  under  his  influence.  The  latter 's 
Zionism  was  more  of  the  heart  than  of  the  mind.  He 
hoped  and  strove  for  a  mass  migration  of  Jews  into 
Palestine.  Beyond  that,  to  the  political  and  social  prob- 
lems of  the  movement,  he  did  not  look.  Like  Pinsker, 
Lilienblum  became  absorbed  in  the  Choveve  Zion  Move- 
ment. He  was  the  secretary  of  the  first  Russian  com- 
mittee of  which  Pinsker  was  the  chairman. 

Lev  Levanda  was  also  a  Russo-Jewish  writer,  who  at 
first  pinned  the  whole  of  his  faith  to  assimilation.    He 


Era  of  the  "Choveve  Zion"  179 

was  awakened  by  the  same  causes  as  were  Pinsker  and 
Lilienblum,  and  with  them  turned  to  Palestine  as  the 
land  of  hope  for  Jewry. 

Isaac  Eiilf  was  another  disciple  of  Pinsker.  He  was 
a  German  Rabbi  and  author  who  had  been  educated  at 
German  Universities,  a  type  very  different  from  that  of 
his  three  contemporaries,  and  the  first  non-Russian  to 
come  under  the  influence  of  the  new  movement.  This 
was  probably  due  to  his  residence  at  Memel,  the  German 
window  which  looked  on  to  the  miseries  of  Russian  Jewry. 
The  Jews  of  Russia  had  been  fired  by  the  writings  of 
Pinsker  and  Lilienblum.  Their  hopes  had  once  again 
been  rescued  from  the  depths  of  despair.  But  the 
emotion  which  swept  through  Jewry  was  confined  to  the 
Russian  dominions.  Several  causes  contributed  to  this. 
The  writings  of  Lilienblum  were  in  a  language  practically 
unknown  to  the  Jews  of  Western  Europe,  and  therefore 
did  not  touch  them.  The  latter  also,  having  enjoyed 
political  and  social  freedom  for  a  generation  or  more, 
were  already  on  the  road  to  assimilation.  For  the  Jews 
of  Russia  they  recommended  the  political  panacea  which 
seemingly  had  solved  their  own  troubles.  To  them  the 
ideal  was  to  turn  the  Russian  Jews  into  Russians  of  the 
Jewish  persuasion.  In  such  a  solution  Palestine  has  no 
place.  Above  all,  the  acquaintance  of  the  Western  Jews 
with  Jewish  suffering  was  for  the  most  part  only 
theoretical,  and  as  the  Russian  Jews  well  knew,  "Things 
seen  are  mightier  than  things  heard."  Thus  the  teach- 
ings of  "Auto-Emancipation"  had  not  yet  penetrated 
into  Europe.  Riilf,  whose  circumstances  were  excep- 
tional, was  the  first  channel  through  which  they  were  to 
do  so.  Nathan  Birnbaum  was  the  founder  of  the  "Kadi- 
mah,"  a  Jewish  nationalist  society,  among  the  Jewish 


180  Palestine 

students  at  Vienna  University.  It  was  the  first  outpost 
of  the  movement  outside  of  Eastern  Europe,  and  served 
to  form  a  direct  connexion  between  the  Zionism  of  the 
early  eighties  and  the  later  Zionism  which  Theodore  Herzl 
was  to  bring  into  existence. 

One  seed  of  the  Russian  movement  was  caught  up  by 
the  wind  and  wafted  across  Europe  and  the  Atlantic, 
to  drop  in  New  York,  there  to  sprout  and  blossom. 
Emma  Lazarus  was  an  American  poetess  of  some  success, 
who,  in  consequence  primarily  of  her  home  surroundings, 
was  practically  estranged  from  Judaism,  or,  rather,  had 
no  interest  in  it.  In  this  condition  she  continued  until 
the  age  of  thirty-two.  The  arrival  in  America  of  the 
first  batches  of  Russo-Jewish  refugees,  however,  aroused 
a  consciousness  that  after  all  had  hitherto  only  been 
dormant.  In  helping  to  receive  on  American  soil  the 
wretched  fugitives,  and  in  tending  those  of  them  who 
were  weak  and  fainting,  she  discovered  her  kinship  with 
Jewry.  Henceforth  she  abandoned  all  other  subjects 
than  Jewish  for  her  pen.  She  turned  to  the  Bible,  to  the 
Hebrew  language,  to  Judaism,  and  to  Jewish  history, 
and  although  she  lived  only  another  five  years,  those  years 
were  filled  with  the  Jewish  spirit.  Her  transition  into 
Jewish  nationalism  was  easy,  and  not  surprising,  and  in  a 
series  of  "Epistles  to  the  Hebrews"  she  openly  advo- 
cated an  independent  Jewish  nationality  and  the  resettle- 
ment of  the  Jews  in  Palestine. 

Of  the  coterie  of  Jewish  thinkers  who  led  the  van  in 
the  Zionist  revival  of  the  early  eighties,  the  last  place 
has  been  kept  for  Asher  Ginzberg,  better  known  under 
his  pen-name  of  Achad  Ha 'Am  (One  of  the  People),  not 
because  he  was  the  least  important  of  the  company,  but, 
on  the  contrary,  because  in  foresight  and  in  statesmanship 


Era  of  the  "Choveve  Zion"  181 

he  towered  over  almost  all  of  his  contemporaries,  and 
above  all,  because  being  younger  than  his  fellow- 
workers,  he  survived  them  all  and  is  to-day  one  of  the 
leaders,  although  he  holds  no  office,  of  the  Zionist  Move- 
ment. His  Zionist  activities  date  from  a  somewhat  later 
period  than  those  with  whom  he  first  co-operated.  In 
1884  Ginzberg  first  joined  the  committee  of  the  Choveve 
Zion.  After  a  few  years'  experience  of  this  body  he 
became  convinced  that  it  did  not  altogether  fulfil  the 
objects  which  he  had  in  view.  It  was  degenerating  into 
a  mere  colonization  society,  and  gradually  losing  that 
spirit,  which  had  originally  inspired  it.  In  order  to 
restore  the  ideal  to  the  higher  level  which  its  founders  had 
given  to  it,  Ginzberg  formed  the  "Bene  Mosheh,"  or 
"Sons  of  Moses,"  an  association  of  men  who  were  to  be 
trained  to  become  leaders  of  the  Palestinian  Movement, 
who  were  to  be  an  inspiration  to  one  another  "and  a 
help  in  communicating  their  own  feelings  to  the  people, ' ' 
so  that  in  the  course  of  time  they  might  succeed  in 
"infusing  their  spirit  into  the  people  at  large,  and  in 
restoring  those  moral  qualities  to  it  without  which  a 
people  cannot  exist  as  such." 

The  ' '  Bene  Mosheh ' '  were  never  many  in  number,  and 
they  did  not  succeed  in  their  principal  intention  of 
raising  the  Choveve  Zion  Movement  as  a  whole  to  a  higher 
plane.  Their  influence,  if  not  immediate,  was  perhaps  all 
the  surer  on  that  account.  The  Association  existed  for 
eight  years,  until  1897.  During  that  period  from  the 
"Bene  Mosheh"  came  the  inspiration  for  several  of  the 
most  useful  and  permanent  institutions  that  the  Chevove 
Zion  produced.  The  model  colony  of  Rechoboth,  the 
Carmel  Wine  Company,  a  school  at  Jaffa,  the  Hebrew 
Publication  Society  "Ahiasaf,"  and  the  Hebrew  periodi- 


182  Palestine 

cal  Ha  Shiloach — all  owe  most,  if  not  all,  of  their  useful- 
ness and  success  to  Asher  Ginzberg  and  those  who 
gathered  round  him.  In  the  meanwhile,  by  means  of  his 
Hebrew  writings,  he  was  rising  to  the  forefront  among 
Hebrew  men  of  letters,  and  ultimately  to  the  position  of 
the  foremost  master  of  living  Hebrew — a  position  which 
he  has  held  for  years.  He  soon  acquired,  too,  a  leading 
position  among  Jewish  philosophers,  and  in  the  Zionist 
Movement  he  has  for  long  been  the  greatest  thinker.  His 
subsequent  history,  however,  belongs  to  the  period  of 
Herzl  's  Zionism. 

From  this  period  until  the  advent  of  Herzl,  the  history 
of  Zionism  is  practically  the  history  of  the  Choveve  Zion 
Movement,  of  which  a  sketch  has  already  been  given. 
The  recrudescence  of  intense  Jewish  suffering  in  the  East 
of  Europe  in  1890  was  one  of  the  principal  causes  that 
led  to  the  presentation  of  a  memorial  to  the  President  of 
the  United  States  by  many  of  the  leading  citizens  of  that 
country,  asking  him  to  use  his  influence  with  the  Euro- 
pean Powers  so  that  an  international  conference  to  con- 
sider the  condition  of  the  Jews  in  Eastern  Europe,  and 
the  expediency  of  creating  a  country  and  a  home  for 
them  in  Eastern  Palestine,  might  be  convened.  But  the 
condition  of  the  Jews  of  Eastern  Europe  was  then  out- 
side of  the  purview  of  diplomacy,  and  of  course  nothing 
resulted.  Five  years  later,  almost  simultaneously  with 
the  publication  of  Herzl's  epoch-making  "Jewish  State," 
Holman  Hunt,  who  had  himself  lived  in  Palestine  and 
was  intimate  with  its  Jewish  inhabitants  as  well  as  with 
many  Jewish  friends  in  Europe,  issued  an  appeal  to  the 
Jews  to  recover  the  Holy  Land  and  to  inhabit  it.  He 
advocated  no  conquest,  but  the  purchase  of  the  land  from 
the  Sultan.    He  looked  forward  to  the  time  when,  under 


Era  of  the  "Choveve  Zion"  183 

Jewish  auspices,  "the  places  desolated  by  bad  govern- 
ment should  be  restored,  aqueducts  rebuilt,  the  land  made 
fruitful,  harbours  constructed,  new  appliances  used  to 
develop  riches,  and  all  intelligent  energy  exercised,  and 
this  revivifying  should  be  carried  on  to  such  perfection 
that  all  other  well-ordered  territories,  grand  with  beauti- 
ful cities,  should  be  in  comparison  the  work  of  mere 
apprentice  hands,  while  the  principles  of  morals  and 
religion  should  be  so  perfected  that  previous  systems 
should  seem  but  the  scattered  pieces  of  a  puzzle — put 
together  at  last  to  show  the  hitherto  unguessed  harmony 
of  the  pattern. ' ' 

Holman  Hunt  advocated  the  acquisition  of  Palestine 
by  the  Jews,  not  only  in  their  own  interest,  but  also  in 
that  of  Europe  and  of  civilization.  Writing  twenty 
years  ago,  he  foresaw  that  "left  as  it  is,  Palestine  will 
soon  become  a  direful  field  of  contention  to  the  infernally 
armed  forces  of  the  European  Powers,  so  that  it  is  calcu- 
lated to  provoke  a  curse  to  the  world  of  the  most  appal- 
ling character.  Russia  and  Greece  will  contend  for  the 
interests  of  the  Greek  Church,  France  and  Italy  for  the 
Latin,  Prussia  and  Austria  for  the  German  political 
interests.  ...  In  addition  to  the  above-named  certain 
contenders  for  Palestine,  there  would  be  England,  for  I 
have  been  assured  by  military  authorities  that  our  Gov- 
ernment would  never  consent  to  the  land  going  into  the 
hands  of  the  other  Great  Powers,  since  this  has,  during 
all  its  history,  been  essential  to  the  holders  of  Egypt." 
Anglo-Jewry  as  a  whole  was  deaf  to  this  appeal,  and  once 
more  no  visible  result  was  forthcoming. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THEODORE  HERZL 

Such  was  the  position  to  which  the  Zionist  idea  had 
arrived  when  a  new  era  opened  with  the  publication  of 
' '  The  Jewish  State ' '  by  Theodore  Herzl.  Herzl,  an  Aus- 
trian journalist,  Parisian  by  domicile,  was  apparently, 
both  by  birth  and  education,  almost  as  far  removed  from 
Judaism  and  Jewish  ideals  as  it  is  possible  to  be  without 
formally  abandoning  all  connexion  with  Jewry.  He  was 
the  supreme  type  of  the  assimilated  Jew  who  holds  back 
only  from  the  last  step  of  baptism.  To  no  man  better 
than  to  Herzl  before  1896  was  the  designation  Austrian 
or  Parisian  of  Jewish  race  more  appropriate.  Apart 
from  the  accident  of  ancestry,  a  matter  in  which  he  was 
merely  a  passive  force,  until  1896  Herzl  was  in  no  sense  a 
Jew. 

The  cause  of  the  sudden  awakening  of  the  Jewish  spirit 
in  the  popular  Parisian  feuilletonist  is  uncertain.  It 
was,  of  course,  always  within  him,  although  latent.  No 
member  of  a  people  with  three  thousand  years  of  heroic 
history  behind  it  can  ever  be  devoid  of  that  race  con- 
sciousness, of  that  pride  in  the  past  and  corresponding 
hope  in  the  future,  which  together  go  to  make  up  the 
indefinable  feeling  of  nationality.  It  may  be  latent ;  in 
most  Jews,  especially  those  who  live  under  conditions 
of  freedom,  it  is  latent ;  in  many  it  has  been  deliberately 
suppressed  in  the  mistaken  idea  that  it  is  incompatible 

184 


Theodore  Herzl  185 

with  loyalty  to  the  State  and  country  to  which  they 
belong,  in  which  their  homes  and  interests  lie.  Jewish 
nationalism  is  in  reality  in  no  sense  incompatible  with, 
for  instance,  the  loyalty  of  the  English  Jew  to  England, 
any  more  than,  as  has  been  aptly  pointed  out,  the  loyalty 
of  a  Scotsman  to  Britain  is  suspect  because  of  his  devo- 
tion to  his  own  particular  portion  of  the  United  Kingdom. 
Against  the  Jewish  nationalist  less  than  against  any  other 
description  of  nationalist  can  the  suggestion  of  disloyalty 
to  the  object  of  his  allegiance  be  brought  with  propriety. 
His  nationalism  is  in  no  sense  aggressive;  it  seeks  no 
political  independence ;  it  covets  no  territory ;  all  it  asks 
is  freedom  to  live  its  own  life,  to  develop  on  its  own  lines. 
But  it  is  essential  that  the  Power  that  shall  include 
Palestine  within  its  dominions  shall  understand  the 
Jewish  ideal  and  be  sympathetic  towards  it ;  that  it  shall 
leave  the  Jew  free  to  fulfil  his  own  destiny  in  Palestine, 
while  it  protects  him  against  all  external  aggressors. 
The  Jewish  people,  for  its  part,  living  once  again  as  a 
people  in  its  own  land,  will  continue  its  Divinely 
appointed  work,  which,  although  impeded  and  sorely 
threatened  with  destruction  many  a  time  during  the  past 
twenty  centuries,  has  never  ceased  since  the  Jewish 
people  were  first  driven  into  exile.  The  destruction  of 
Judaism  or  Jewry  in  one  centre  has  merely  led  to  the 
creation  of  a  centre  in  another  land. 

Herzl  himself  said  that  the  Judaism  that  was  innate  in 
him,  as  in  all  other  Jews,  was  awakened  when  his  boy 
began  to  pass  out  of  childhood.  For  himself  the  problem 
of  Jewry  was  not  a  living  one,  nor  did  it  become  so  even 
when  his  child  was  born.  But  when  he  saw  that  child 
growing  towards  manhood,  he  began  to  see  also  that  the 
future  of  his  child  was  involved  in  the  future  of  their 


186  Palestine 

people.  It  lias  also  been  suggested  that  the  wave  of 
active  anti-Semitism  which  overran  Liberal  Austria  in  the 
nineties  of  last  century  reacted  on  Herzl,  who,  like  many 
another  assimilated  Jew  overtaken  by  similar  circum- 
stances, found  himself  brought  much  closer  to  his  dis- 
tressed kinsmen.  The  orgies  of  anti-Semitic  prejudice 
which  centred  around  the  figure  of  Captain  Dreyfus  in 
that  democratic  France  which  had  been  the  pioneer  of 
Jewish  emancipation  in  the  modern  world,  were  also  not 
without  their  influence  on  the  detached  thinker  who  was 
living  in  the  midst  of  them.  It  is  probable  that  all  these 
forces  combined  to  make  Herzl  a  Jewish  nationalist  and 
the  founder  of  a  new  school  of  Zionism. 

"While  the  idea  which  afterwards  crystallized  into  ' '  The 
Jewish  State"  was  agitating  Herzl  early  in  1895,  he 
sought  an  interview  with  Baron  de  Hirsch.,  the  great 
philanthropist  who  had  created  the  Jewish  Colonization 
Association  and  endowed  it  with  millions  for  the  purpose 
of  relieving  the  misery  of  the  Jews  of  Eastern  Europe, 
for  the  most  part  by  means  of  emigration.  But  Herzl's 
proposal  for  the  creation  of  a  Jewish  self-governing 
colony  did  not  find  any  sympathy  with  Baron  Hirsch. 
No  locale  for  the  desired  settlement  seems  to  have  been 
decided  at  the  time  of  this  interview.  Four  years  pre- 
viously, however,  in  negotiations  with  the  Choveve  Zion, 
Hirsch  had  offered  his  services  in  any  negotiations  that 
might  be  opened  with  the  Turkish  Government  in  the 
direction  of  the  systematic  Jewish  colonization  of  Pales- 
tine ;  but  he  gave  the  representatives  of  the  Choveve  Zion 
no  room  for  misunderstanding  that  his  own  colonies  in 
South  America  had  the  first  and  by  far  the  greatest  claim 
on  his  interest. 

Herzl  at  first  did  not  admit  any  particular  claim  on 


Theodore  Herzl  187 

the  part  of  Palestine  to  be  the  new  Jewish  land.  The 
locale  was  to  him  an  open  question.  It  might  be  in 
Palestine  and  it  might  just  as  well  be  in  South  America 
or  elsewhere.  With  him  the  great  point  was  that  if 
Jewry  was  to  continue  to  exist,  there  must  be  a  Jewish 
State  somewhere.  The  only  alternative  was  complete 
assimilation,  and  the  Jews  did  not  desire  assimilation, 
nor  would  it  be  permitted  by  the  nations.  The  creation 
of  a  Jewish  State  was  the  programme  put  forward  in 
' '  The  Jewish  State, ' '  in  which  the  scheme  was  elaborated 
in  such  detail  that  even  the  particulars  of  the  national 
flag  were  given.  Jewry  was  to  be  organized  through  a 
1 '  Society  of  Jews, ' '  the  instrument  of  which  was  to  be  a 
chartered  company,  founded  in  accordance  with  the  laws 
of  England.  It  is  probable  that  Herzl  was  unacquainted 
with  the  writings  of  Hess,  Pinsker,  Lilienblum,  and  the 
other  pioneers  of  Zionism;  otherwise  his  own  proposals 
would  have  shown  their  influence.  Moreover,  when  he 
sat  down  to  write  his  "Jewish  State,"  and  even  when  he 
published  it,  it  does  not  seem  that  he  had  any  intention 
of  leading  a  practical  movement. 

Events  were,  however,  stronger  than  he  had  antici- 
pated. Within  a  few  months  of  the  publication  of  the 
book  he  happened  to  be  in  Sofia,  where  he  was  welcomed 
by  deputations  of  the  local  Jews,  who  hailed  him  as  a 
leader  in  Israel.  Almost  simultaneously  the  Viennese 
Students'  Society,  the  Kadimah,  which  had  been  founded 
by  Nathan  Birnbaum,  approached  him  with  a  direct  offer 
of  support,  and  proposed  the  foundation  of  a  Society  of 
Jews  such  as  he  had  sketched.  The  headquarters  of  the 
Society  were  to  be  in  London,  almost  the  only  great 
European  capital  which  was  free  from  the  poison  of 
Anti-Semitism,    in    whose    Jewish    population    it    was 


188  Palestine 

thought  a  ready  adhesion  to  the  new  nationalism  would 
be  obtained.  Even  before  that  Herzl  had  seen  the 
Sultan,  by  invitation,  and  had  submitted  his  proposals 
to  the  Porte.  His  scheme  was  not  unfavourably  received. 
The  position  in  Constantinople  was  then  somewhat  criti- 
cal in  consequence  of  the  recent  massacres  of  Armenians 
which  had  re-echoed  far  and  wide  throughout  Europe. 
The  Sultan  apparently  felt  the  necessity  for  rehabilitat- 
ing himself  in  the  sight  of  Europe,  and,  independently  of 
his  conversations  with  Herzl,  had  sent  an  emissary  to 
London  to  secure  the  supposed  influence  of  the  Anglo- 
Jewish  leaders  with  the  British  Government  in  return 
for  the  grant  of  considerable  concessions  in  Palestine. 
The  British  Jews,  however,  apart  altogether  from  the 
question  of  approving  any  Palestinian  project,  declined 
any  such  bargain  with  the  Sultan. 

Meanwhile  a  direct  invitation  to  put  his  views  before 
the  Anglo-Jewish  public  had  been  conveyed  to  Herzl  by 
Mr.  Israel  Zangwill,  on  behalf  of  the  Maccabceans,  a 
society  of  Anglo-Jewish  professional  men.  Herzl  ad- 
dressed the  Maccabceans  early  in  July,  1896.  His  recep- 
tion was  disappointing.  The  welcome  accorded  to  the 
man  was  enthusiastic;  but  the  enthusiasm  was  not 
extended  to  his  proposals,  although  they  were  generally 
supported  by  Holman  Hunt  in  London  and  by  Max 
Nordau  in  Paris.  A  meeting  of  the  Jewish  masses  held 
a  week  later  in  the  East  of  London,  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Eadinah  and  other  Zionist  societies,  gave  a  far 
heartier  welcome  to  the  project.  Nevertheless,  Herzl 
was  deeply  disappointed  with  the  results  of  his  visit.  He 
had  sought  the  co-operation  of  the  leaders  of  Anglo- 
Jewry.     With  very  few  exceptions  they  held  aloof. 

Incidentally  the  rise  of  Herzl's  movement  led  to  the 


Theodore  Herzl  189 

absorption  of  the  Choveve  Zion  in  England,  and,  in  fact 
everywhere  but  in  Russia.  The  principal  function  of 
the  Choveve  Zion  had  been  the  gradual  colonization  of 
Palestine  without  much  heed  to  the  political  conditions. 
The  outstanding  feature  of  Herzl 's  movement  was,  how- 
ever, political,  and  in  his  view,  until  political  security 
was  forthcoming  there  should  be  no  question  of  further 
colonization.  The  land  certainly  needed  development, 
but  all  development  should  be  stayed  until  the  charter 
which  Herzl  sought,  and  would  secure  to  the  colonists 
the  fruits  of  their  labours,  was  forthcoming.  The  new 
movement  was  therefore  regarded  as  antagonistic  to  the 
old.  Nevertheless,  the  Choveve  Zion,  in  England  at  any 
rate,  might  have  continued  its  activities  as  a  separate 
organization,  if  its  supporters  themselves  had  not  split 
into  two  parties.  Of  these  the  one,  composed  for  the 
most  part  of  the  larger  foreign  element,  gave  their 
adherence  at  once  to  the  movement  at  whose  head  Herzl 
was.  The  other,  representative  of  the  native  and 
wealthier  section  in  the  community,  dismayed  by  Herzl 's 
political  schemes,  abandoned  all  connection  with  work 
in  or  on  behalf  of  Palestine. 

The  Choveve  Zion  organization  did  not  succumb  imme- 
diately after  Herzl's  visit  to  England.  It  lingered  for 
yet  another  two  years,  but  from  the  day  of  that  visit  its 
days  were  numbered.  In  common  with  its  allied  societies 
in  France  and  Germany  the  English  Choveve  Zion  felt 
compelled  to  refuse  Herzl 's  invitation  to  the  Congress  of 
representatives  of  Jewry  which  he  convened  in  the  spring 
of  1897.  It  did  so  with  sincere  regret,  for  it  felt  that  the 
objects  of  the  two  organizations  were  one,  even  though 
their  means  differed.  It  felt  the  attraction  the  new  move- 
ment had  for  its  adherents,  and  seems  to  have  recognized 


190  Palestine 

the  perilous  condition  into  which  it  was  passing.  It  did 
not,  however,  allow  itself  to  pass  out  of  existence  without 
an  effort  to  survive.  In  order  to  retain  the  interest  of 
its  members,  the  English  Choveve  Zion  decided  to  hold 
half-yearly  conferences.  The  first  of  these,  with  an 
extensive  programme,  was  held  in  March,  1898.  At  its 
conclusion  the  meeting,  contrary  to  the  wishes  of  its 
conveners,  resolved  to  combine  with  Herzl's  movement, 
and  with  that  resolution  the  Choveve  Zion  in  England 
came  to  an  end. 

This  is,  however,  anticipating  somewhat.  Long  before 
the  end  of  the  year  1896  the  schemes  promulgated  in  the 
"Jewish  State"  had  spread  far  and  wide  throughout  the 
Diaspora,  and  had  everywhere  secured  the  adhesion  of 
a  people  eager  to  become  converts.  During  the  quarter 
of  a  century  since  the  day  of  Pinsker  and  his  colleagues 
a  great  change  had  come  over  the  Jewish  situation.  In 
their  time  persecution  of  the  Jews  had  been  practically 
confined  to  the  backward  lands.  In  Central  and  Western 
Europe  the  Jew  was,  except  for  a  few  isolated  instances, 
as  little  subject  to  danger  or  discomfort  as  his  Christian 
fellow-citizen.  There  was  then  some  justification  for 
the  contention  that  Parliamentary  government  and  anti- 
Semitism  are  incompatible,  and  if  that  had  been  so,  the 
solution  of  the  Jewish  Question  in  Eastern  Europe  would 
have  been  only  a  matter  of  time.  During  the  last  three 
decades  of  the  nineteenth  century,  however,  anti-Semit- 
ism had  flourished  and  spread  throughout  Europe.  A 
democratic  form  of  government  had  proved  itself  no 
bar  to  the  adoption  and  diffusion  of  the  prejudice.  In 
Germany,  Austria,  Hungary,  and  France,  active  anti- 
Jewish  prejudice  had  become  a  living  and  apparently 
permanent  feature  in  social  and  political  life.    Those 


Theodore  Herzl  191 

who  despaired  of  solution  by  means  of  civil  emancipation 
had  also,  therefore,  some  justification.  And  many  of 
those  who  despaired  turned  to  Herzl  as  the  leader  of  the 
new  exodus.  The  new  movement  did  not  make,  however, 
only  friends.  As  its  objects  crystallized,  so  did  its  critics 
grow  in  number.  There  were  the  assimilated  in  West- 
ern Europe  who  clung  to  the  belief  that  political  emanci- 
pation was  the  only  solution  of  the  Jewish  Question,  and 
in  whom  the  fear  was  aroused  that  the  proposal  to  estab- 
lish a  Jewish  State  would  endanger  the  security  that  the 
Jews  of  the  Diaspora  already  possessed.  There  were  the 
extreme  adherents  of  traditional  Judaism  who  prayed 
night  and  day  for  the  restoration  to  Zion,  but  awaited 
the  bidding  of  the  Messiah  before  they  were  willing  to 
take  the  first  step.  To  them  the  Zionist  Movement  was 
almost  blasphemous;  its  wickedness  was,  if  possible, 
enhanced  by  Herzl's  proposal  to  create  a  secular  State, 
whose  inhabitants  would  be  free  to  adopt  whatever  form 
of  religion  they  preferred.  There  were  also  the  Reform 
Jews,  who  had  carefully  excised  all  references  to  the 
Messiah  and  the  Return  to  Zion  from  their  ritual,  who 
lived  in  the  present  and  perhaps  the  future,  but  to  whom 
the  past  was  entirely  blotted  out.  To  them  Germany  or 
America,  never  Palestine,  was  Zion.  Above  all,  there  was 
that  school  of  Jewish  thought  which  held  the  view  that 
the  mission  of  Judaism  can  be  performed  only  by  Jews 
scattered  among  the  nations,  and  that  a  concentration 
in  Palestine  or  elsewhere  would  tend  to  retard  rather 
than  to  forward  that  mission.  Among  none  of  these  did 
Herzl  find  adherents.  On  the  other  hand,  opposition 
was  encountered  from  all  of  them  in  turn. 

The  Zionist  Movement  with  Herzl  at  its  head  was  now 
well  under  way.    A  press  organ,  Die  Welt,  had  been 


192  Palestine 

established  in  Vienna  by  Ilerzl  at  his  own  expense,  but 
the  movement  had  neither  organization  nor  funds.  The 
necessity  to  meet  and  consult  with  representatives  of 
his  adherents  scattered  throughout  the  countries  of  the 
civilized  world  was  obvious.  It  was  first  intended  to 
hold  a  Congress  at  Munich,  but  the  local  Jewish  leaders 
were  so  hostile  to  the  proposal  that  the  project  was 
abandoned  and  Basle  was  chosen  instead  as  the  scene  of 
the  first  gathering  of  Zionists  from  all  parts  of  the  world. 
The  first  Zionist  Congress  opened  on  the  29th  of  August, 
1897,  when  two  hundred  and  four  delegates  were  present. 
They  came  from  almost  every  country  in  Europe,  as  well 
as  from  the  United  States  and  Palestine.  The  best- 
known  of  them  were  Max  Nordau,  from  Paris;  Mr. 
Zangwill,  from  London;  M.  Ussischkin,  a  prominent 
member  of  the  Odessa  Committee;  Professor  Mandel- 
stamm,  of  Kieff ;  and  Dr.  N.  Birnbaum,  the  founder  of 
the  Kadimah.  A  few  non-Jews,  including  M.  Dunant, 
the  founder  of  the  Red  Cross  Society,  were  also  present. 
The  Government  of  the  Canton  of  Basle  extended  its 
hospitality  to  the  Congress,  which  was  attended  by  a 
representative  of  the  Turkish  Government,  who  had  been 
instructed  to  submit  his  report  to  Herzl  before  forward- 
ing it  to  Constantinople.  The  enthusiasm  of  the  gather- 
ing was  tumultuous.  Strangers  embraced  one  another. 
Strong  men  shed  tears  of  emotion  at  the  thought  that  at 
length,  after  the  lapse  of  nearly  two  thousand  years, 
Jewry  had  once  again  gathered  together  in  preparation 
for  the  march  home  to  Zion.  No  hero  ever  received  a 
greater  ovation  than  did  the  leader  of  the  new  move- 
ment. At  the  conclusion  of  the  meetings  the  parting 
between  him  and  many  of  his  newly-found  followers  and 


Theodore  Herzl  193 

friends  was  most  affectionate.  Delegate  parted  from 
delegate  with  the  time-honoured  Jewish  wish — "Next 
year  in  Jerusalem. ' ' 

At  this  Congress  a  Zionist  organization  was  duly  con- 
stituted. The  government  was  to  be  vested  in  a  con- 
gress representative  of  shekel-payers — i.e.,  supporters  of 
the  cause  who  contributed  at  least  a  shekel x  (in  England 
a  shilling)  a  year.  The  Congress  was  to  elect  an  Execu- 
tive Committee  to  carry  out  the  resolutions  of  the  Con- 
gress, to  conduct  the  business  of  the  movement  until  the 
next  Congress  is  held,  and  to  make  the  preparations  for 
that  Congress.  The  Executive  Committee  was  to  be 
representative  of  all  countries,  but  it  was  to  act  for  the 
greater  part  through  a  committee  of  five  residents  in 
Vienna,  who  were  to  be  elected  by  the  Congress.  The 
outstanding  result  of  the  Congress  was  the  adoption  of 
the  following  programme : 

Zionism  strives  to  create  for  the  Jewish  people  a  home  in  Pales- 
tine secured  by  public  law.  The  Congress  contemplates  the  follow- 
ing means  to  the  attainment  of  this  end :  ( 1 )  The  promotion,  on 
suitable  lines,  of  the  colonization  of  Palestine  by  Jewish  agricul- 
tural and  industrial  workers.  (2)  The  organization  and  binding 
together  of  the  whole  of  Jewry  by  means  of  appropriate  institutions, 
local  and  international,  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  each  coun- 
try. (3)  The  strengthening  and  fostering  of  Jewish  national 
sentiment  and  consciousness.  (4)  Preparatory  steps  towards  ob- 
taining Government  consent,  where  necessary,  to  the  attainment  of 
the  aim  of  Zionism. 

It  will  be  noticed  that,  advancing  on  Herzl 's  original 
proposals,  the  future  home  for  the  Jewish  people  was 
fixed   definitely   in   Palestine.    The   Congress   also   de- 

i  The  unit  of  coinage  in  the  Jewish  State. 


194  Palestine 

clared  the  necessity  of  creating  a  Jewish  National  Fund, 
and  appointed  a  committee  to  consider  the  position  of 
Hebrew  as  a  living  language. 

The  Congress  at  Basle  gave  a  great  impetus  to  the 
movement  for  the  re-creation  of  a  centre  of  Judaism  in 
Palestine.  The  adherents  of  the  movement  increased 
manifold.  New  societies  sprang  into  existence  in  all 
parts  of  the  world.  Within  a  few  months  every  country 
of  Europe  had  its  Zionists  organized  in  societies.  Every 
town  in  Galicia  had  its  separate  society.  Roumanian 
Jewry  also  counted  its  Zionist  societies  by  the  score.  In 
New  York  the  fifteen  Zionist  societies  had  already 
formed  a  federation,  and  steps  were  immediately  taken 
to  federate  all  the  societies  in  the  United  States.  Before 
the  end  of  the  year  three  other  subsidiary  conferences 
had  been  held,  one  at  Frankfurt,  a  second  at  Kieff,  and 
the  third  at  Lemberg.  In  Canada,  even  in  Australia 
and  India,  Jewry  was  engaged  in  forming  Zionist  soci- 
eties. Almost  equal  interest  was  being  aroused  outside 
of  Jewish  circles.  The  Congress  at  Basle  was  noticed, 
in  most  instances  sympathetically,  by  the  Press  of  the 
entire  world.  Important  English  papers  even  sug- 
gested the  convening  of  an  international  congress  to  con- 
sider the  Jewish  Question. 

Ten  Congresses  have  since  been  held,  of  which  six 
were  at  Basle.  The  fourth,  in  1900,  was  held  in  Lon- 
don; the  eighth,  in  1907,  at  the  Hague;  the  ninth,  in 
1909,  at  Hamburg ;  and  the  eleventh,  in  1913,  at  Vienna. 
At  the  second  Congress  the  number  of  delegates  was 
double  that  at  its  predecessor.  The  Rabbis,  who  had  for 
the  most  part  kept  aloof  from  the  earlier  meeting,  were 
now  represented,  having  in  many  instances  been  satis- 
fied that  the  new  movement  contained  nothing  contrary 


Theodore  Herzl  195 

to  the  traditional  teachings  of  Judaism.  More  of  the 
representative  men  of  Jewry  also  attended  this  Con- 
gress. These  new-comers  included  Bernard  Lazare,  the 
French  publicist;  Dr.  M.  Gaster,  Chief  Rabbi  of  the 
Sephardi  Jews  of  England;  Rabbi  Isaac  Riilf,  one  of  the 
pioneers  of  the  eighties ;  and  Professor  Richard  Gottheil, 
of  New  York.  All  the  countries  of  Europe  again  sent 
delegates,  and  in  addition  South  Africa,  Egypt,  and 
South  America  were  represented.  The  number  of  soci- 
eties represented  at  the  Congress  fell  just  short  of  a 
thousand.  At  this  Congress  it  was  decided  to  establish 
a  financial  instrument  of  the  movement.  This  took  the 
form  of  the  Jewish  Colonial  Trust,  a  foreign  banking 
business,  with  headquarters  in  London. 

During  the  subsequent  years  Herzl  continued  his 
diplomatic  activities  with  a  view  to  securing  a  charter 
guaranteeing  the  rights  of  autonomy  to  a  Jewish  settle- 
ment in  Palestine.  In  1903  he  was  in  St.  Petersburg, 
where  he  obtained  from  the  anti-Semitic  Minister  of  the 
Interior,  von  Plehve,  a  promise  to  withdraw  the  prohi- 
bition on  Zionist  activities  in  Russia.  The  previous  year 
he  had  been  in  London,  where,  as  a  witness  before  the 
Royal  Commission  on  Alien  Immigration,  he  diagnosed 
the  ills  from  which  Jewry  was  suffering.  He  was  re- 
ceived with  much,  real  or  apparent,  sympathy  by  the 
German  Emperor  during  his  visit  to  Jerusalem  in 
November,  1908,  and  by  the  King  of  Italy  and  the  Pope 
some  years  after.  Throughout  this  period  he  had  re- 
peated interviews  with  the  Sultan,  which  are  believed  to 
have  been  replete  with  promises,  but  lacking  in  per- 
formance. 

The  fourth  Congress  was  held  in  London  in  August, 
1900,  partly  with  the  intention  of  interesting  the  leaders 


196  Palestine 

of  the  Anglo-Jewish  Community  in  a  movement  which 
had  by  now  become  a  part  of  life  to  a  large  portion  of 
the  Jewish  population  of  the  Continent.  The  English 
leaders,  however,  kept  carefully  aloof  from  it.  Their 
view  of  Zionism  may  be  summed  up  in  the  words  of  the 
Jewish  Chronicle,  their  press  organ,  as  "ill-considered, 
retrogressive,  impracticable,  and  even  dangerous."  If 
the  movement  failed  to  attract  the  leaders  of  Anglo- 
Jewry,  it  secured  the  adhesion  of  the  masses  in  the 
poorer  districts,  most  of  whom  had  either  themselves 
come  as  refugees  from  the  Continent  or  were  in  close 
communication  with  relatives  and  friends  who  had  not 
been  able  to  escape.  It  moreover  attracted  favourable 
notice  in  far  more  influential  circles,  not  directly  as  a 
consequence  of  the  London  Congress,  but  undoubtedly 
partly  in  consequence  of  the  trains  of  thought  that 
that  Congress  excited.  In  the  first  place  Lord  Roths- 
child, the  head  of  the  Anglo-Jewish  Community,  whose 
heart  was  ever  ready  to  melt  at  the  sorrows  of  his  widely- 
scattered  people,  failing  to  foresee  any  benefit  to  them 
from  Herzl's  proposals,  had  declined  to  give  him  the 
slightest  encouragement.  Personal  contact  with  the 
magnetic  personality  of  the  Zionist  leader,  which  the 
Aliens  Commission  of  which  Lord  Rothschild  was  a 
member,  had  given,  was  not  without  its  effect  on  Lord 
Rothschild's  attitude  towards  the  man,  even  though  his 
attitude  towards  his  policy  remained  apparently  un- 
changed. Shortly  after  Herzl  's  evidence  had  been  given 
before  the  Royal  Commission,  he  again  returned  to  Eng- 
land as  the  guest  of  Lord  Rothschild,  but  social  inter- 
course did  not  soften  the  host's  opposition  to  the  political 
schemes  of  Zionism.  In  the  years  that  intervened  be- 
tween those  meetings  and  the  end  of  the  life  of  the 


Theodore  Herzl  197 

leader  of  Anglo-Jewry,  the  Zionist  Movement  itself  un- 
derwent a  great  change.  External  and  internal  circum- 
stances combined  to  push  the  political  aspect  farther  and 
farther  into  the  background — in  fact,  ultimately  almost 
to  deprive  the  movement  of  its  political  complexion.  At 
the  same  time  Lord  Rothschild  appears  to  have  grown 
more  and  more  sympathetic  towards  the  Zionist  ideals. 
When  at  length  he  died  in  1915  almost  suddenly,  but 
full  of  years,  little  indeed  still  separated  him  from  those 
into  whose  hands  the  anxious  heritage  of  Herzl  had 
passed. 

Lord  Rothschild,  influential  as  he  was,  was  by  no 
means  the  most  influential  of  English  public  men  on 
whom  the  Zionist  hopes  and  efforts  had  some  effect.  The 
influence,  possibly  unconscious,  of  six  years  of  the  Zion- 
ist Movement,  and  perhaps  the  more  insistent  influence 
of  Herzl 's  appearance  before  the  Royal  Commission, 
gave  to  the  suggestion,  which  was  made  to  the  British 
and  the  Anglo-Egyptian  Governments  towards  the  end 
of  the  year,  of  a  Jewish  autonomous  settlement  in  the 
district  of  El  Arish  in  Egyptian  territory  on  the  Asiatic 
side  of  the  Suez  Canal — in  effect,  in  the  southernmost 
portion  of  Palestine — a  reality  that  might  otherwise  have 
been  wanting.  The  two  Governments  were  quite  agree- 
able to  the  proposed  form  of  government  if  a  settlement 
should  ever  eventuate.  In  the  meanwhile  an  exploring 
commission  on  which  the  Egyptian  Government  was 
represented  was  sent  to  El  Arish  by  the  Zionist  head- 
quarters. The  report  of  the  commission  was  never  pub- 
lished, and  no  action  was  taken  upon  it.  It  was  said 
that  the  land  was  found  unsuitable  for  an  agricultural 
settlement  of  any  size.  It  is  also  possible  that  the  Brit- 
ish and  Egyptian  Governments,  for  strategic  reasons, 


198  Palestine 

preferred  to  retain  a  desert  as  a  barrier  between  the 
Turkish  and  the  Egyptian  dominions,  and  the  settle- 
ment of  the  El  Arish  district  by  a  population  likely  to 
restore  it  to  civilization  was  discouraged  so  long  as  Pales- 
tine remained  in  possibly  hostile  hands.  The  El  Arish 
project  failed  to  materialize,  but  it  led  direct  to  the 
offer  to  Jewry,  as  represented  by  the  Zionist  organiza- 
tion, of  a  territory  in  British  East  Africa  for  a  self-gov- 
erning Jewish  settlement,  the  first  occasion  in  modern 
history  on  which  the  Jews  have  received  official  recog- 
nition as  a  national  entity  by  a  European  Power. 

Before  this  time  had  arrived,  although  the  number  of 
supporters  of  the  Zionist  Movement  had  grown  from 
year  to  year,  the  enthusiastic  devotion  with  which  the 
leader  had  at  first  been  hailed  was  no  longer  unanimous. 
Criticism,  assisted  somewhat  by  the  impatience  of  those 
who  had  expected  the  Return  to  Palestine  to  start  from 
the  first  Congress  at  Basle,  found  its  tongue.  The  ap- 
parent failure  of  Herzl's  original  project  led  to  the  sug- 
gestion of  alternatives,  such  as  Cyprus,  which  on  their 
part  led  to  opposition.  The  cessation  of  all  activity  in 
Palestine,  pending  the  granting  of  a  charter  by  the 
Sultan — for  Herzl  was  opposed  to  the  development  of 
the  country  until  its  occupation  by  Jews  was  secure — 
annoyed  the  Choveve  Zion,  who  were  still  strong,  espe- 
cially in  Russia.  On  the  other  hand,  there  was  still  a 
party,  which  shared  the  original  views  of  the  author  of 
"The  Jewish  State,"  to  which  the  locale  of  the  State 
was  for  the  most  part  a  matter  of  indifference,  and  to 
whom  the  form  of  government  was  the  chief  concern. 
This  party,  also  disappointed  at  the  failure  to  secure  any 
tangible  concession  from  the  Sultan,  was  believed  to  be 
not  indisposed  to  negotiate  for  a  land  outside  of  Pales- 


Theodore  Herzl  199 

tine.  To  their  views  the  orthodox  Zionists  showed  a 
passionate  opposition.  There  were  thus  parties  and 
cross-currents  in  the  Zionist  Movement,  and  in  the  mean- 
while the  first  exuberant  optimism  had  passed  away. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

T*HE  EAST   AFRICAN  PROJECT,   AND  AFTER 

The  offer  of  a  territory  in  British  East  Africa  for  a  self- 
governing  Jewish  State  was  made  on  the  direct  initiative 
of  Joseph  Chamberlain,  then  Secretary  of  State  for  the 
Colonies.  He  had  been  acquainted  with  the  El  Arish 
project,  with  which  he  had  every  sympathy.  The  aban- 
donment of  that  project  came  immediately  before  his 
visit  to  South  Africa,  on  the  way  to  which  he  turned 
aside  to  traverse  Uganda.  On  the  journey  from  the  coast 
to  that  Central  African  territory  Chamberlain  passed 
through  a  region,  part  of  the  British  Empire,  apparently 
well  adapted  for  European  settlement  and  yet  prac- 
tically uninhabited.  With  the  Jewish  Question  fresh  in 
his  mind ;  anxious,  on  humane  grounds,  to  assist  in  re- 
lieving the  misery  of  the  Jewish  people;  and  doubtless 
desirous  also  of  identifying  the  British  name  with  a  de- 
parture that  might  well  prove  a  turning-point  in  human 
history ;  above  all,  with  true  statesmanlike  instinct,  wish- 
ing to  incorporate  into  the  mosaic  of  the  British  Empire 
an  element  whose  prospective  value  would  be  so  consider- 
able as  that  of  a  Jewish  dominion — the  idea  of  including 
in  the  ultimate  British  Federation  a  Jewish  state  seized 
his  heart,  his  imagination,  and  his  sense  of  statesman- 
ship. British  East  Africa  did  not  fall  within  the  sphere 
of  the  Colonial  Office.  It  would  not  therefore  fall  to 
Chamberlain  to  translate  his  idea  into  formal  proposals. 

200 


The  East  African  Project  201 

He  referred  the  matter  to  the  Foreign  Office,  at  the 
head  of  which  was  Lord  Lansdowne.  There  the  proposal 
met  with  as  much  sympathy  as  if  it  had  remained  in  the 
hands  of  Chamberlain  himself. 

The  East  African  project  formally  entered  the  sphere 
of  practical  politics  on  the  14th  of  August,  1903,  when 
a  letter  was  sent  by  the  Foreign  Office  to  Mr.  L.  J. 
Greenberg,  a  prominent  English  Zionist,  who  had  been 
closely  connected  with  the  El  Arish  negotiations. 
This  letter,  after  stating  that  Lord  Lansdowne  had 
"  studied  the  question  with  the  interest  which  His 
Majesty's  Government  must  always  take  in  any  well- 
considered  scheme  for  the  amelioration  of  the  position 
of  the  Jewish  race,"  proceeded  to  lay  down  in  general 
terms  the  conditions  of  the  offer  of  a  territory.  Lord 
Lansdowne  "  would  be  prepared  to  discuss  .  .  .  the  de- 
tails of  a  scheme  comprising  as  its  main  features  the 
grant  of  a  considerable  area  of  land,  the  appointment  of 
a  Jewish  official  as  the  chief  of  the  local  administration, 
and  permission  to  the  colony  to  have  a  free  hand  in  re- 
gard to  municipal  legislation,  and  as  to  the  management 
of  religious  and  purely  domestic  matters,  such  local 
autonomy  being  conditional  upon  the  right  of  His 
Majesty's  Government  to  exercise  general  control." 

Herzl  was  in  a  difficult  position.  His  efforts  had 
resulted  in  an  offer  by  the  British  Government  of  every- 
thing for  which  the  organization  of  which  he  was  the 
head  was  striving,  except  that  the  land  which  was  offered 
had  neither  religious  nor  historical  sentiment  behind  it. 
Herzl  had  long  before  been  educated  by  his  associates 
into  the  opinion  that  the  soul  of  the  Zionist  Movement 
was  the  craving  of  the  Jewish  people  for  Palestine.  He 
had  once  looked  at  the  question  as  little  more  than  one  of 


202  Palestine 

social  economics,  and  the  offer  of  the  British  Government 
then  would,  to  his  mind,  have  solved  the  whole  problem. 
Lord  Lansdowne  and  his  colleagues  were,  in  fact,  in  1903 
in  the  mental  position  which  Herzl  had  occupied  when 
eight  years  earlier  he  wrote  ' '  The  Jewish  State. ' '  Herzl 
therefore  knew  that  the  acceptance  of  the  East  African 
offer  would  mean  no  settlement  of  the  Jewish  Question. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  need  of  the  Jewish  people  was 
urgent.  The  sixth  Zionist  Congress  was  held  in  the 
midst  of  a  period  of  externally  induced  suffering  for  the 
Jewish  people.  The  offer  was  so  generous,  so  unprece- 
dented, that  one  would  well  hesitate  and  hesitate  again 
lest  its  rejection  might  not  prove  an  act  of  treason  to 
the  Jewish  people.  Herzl  decided  to  accept  it,  subject 
to  the  territory  being  found  suitable  for  European 
settlement,  a  condition  which  the  British  Government 
had  already  accepted,  not  as  the  end  of  the  Zionist  ef- 
forts, but  as  a  half-way  house,  a  stepping-stone  to  Pales- 
tine, a  land  in  which  the  Jewish  people  might  serve  the 
apprenticeship  of  self-government,  preparatory  to  enter- 
ing into  their  ancient  heritage.  This  was  the  proposal 
which  he  hoped  to  persuade  the  Congress  to  accept. 

Herzl  did  not,  however,  even  yet  realize  the  strength 
of  the  Palestinian  sentiment  among  his  followers.  All 
were  unanimous  in  their  gratitude  to  the  British  Govern- 
ment, but  the  opposition  to  the  proposed  abandonment, 
even  only  temporary  and  partial,  of  the  Zionist  ideal 
was  keen.  The  Russian  delegates,  who,  one  might  have 
expected,  would  have  welcomed  almost  any  land  of 
refuge,  were  practically  unanimous  in  their  opposition 
to  the  proposal.  The  parties  among  the  other  nationali- 
ties were  more  evenly  divided.  In  England  Dr.  Gaster 
and  Dr.  Weizmann  were  pure  Zionists.    Mr.  Herbert 


The  East  African  Project  203 

Bentwich  who  thought  with  them,  carried  the  Order  of 
Ancient  Maccabagans,  one  of  the  two  principal  English 
Zionist  institutions,  with  him.  On  the  other  hand,  Mr. 
Zangwill  and  Mr.  Greenberg  were  in  favour  of  the  ac- 
ceptance of  the  offer.  Max  Nordau  agreed  with  Mr. 
Zangwill.  Ultimately  a  compromise  resolution,  which  in 
effect  committed  no  one  to  any  decision,  was  adopted, 
but  the  opposition  of  a  large  section  of  the  Palestinian 
party  even  to  this,  was  intense.  The  resolution  was  to 
the  effect  that  a  commission  of  investigation,  as  sug- 
gested by  the  British  Government,  should  be  sent  to 
East  Africa  to  ascertain  whether  the  country  was  suit- 
able for  the  purpose  to  which  it  was  proposed  to  devote 
it;  that  the  cost  of  the  commission  should  not  come 
out  of  Zionist  funds,  but  should  be  specially  provided 
from  private  sources ;  and  that  on  the  presentation  of  the 
Commission's  report  to  the  next  Congress,  to  be  ex- 
pressly convened  for  the  purpose,  a  decision  should  be 
taken  whether  to  accept  or  decline  the  British  offer. 
This  Congress  was  held  in  the  following  year,  but  in  the 
meanwhile  Herzl  had  died,  a  self-sacrifice  to  the  cause  of 
his  people. 

Theodore  Herzl,  the  re-creator  of  Jewish  nationalism, 
one  of  those  very  occasional  leaders  whom  the  Jews  of 
all  lands  accept,  died  on  the  4th  of  July,  1904,  at  the 
premature  age  of  forty-four  years.  He  was  the  one  uni- 
versal Jew  of  his  age,  the  unique  personification  of  the 
Jewish  spirit  that  it  had  possessed  since  the  death  of  Sir 
Moses  Montefiore.  Half  of  the  Jewish  race  called  him 
Master  and  owed  to  him  the  revival  of  the  Jewish  hope. 
Thousands  of  Jewish  homes,  the  humblest  in  the  Dias- 
pora, in  Russia,  in  Roumania,  in  Galicia,  in  the  United 
States,  and  in  a  score  of  other  countries,  possessed  and 


204  Palestine 


treasured  the  portrait  of  the  Viennese  journalist.  Into 
these  dwellings,  the  abodes  of  the  most  wretched  of 
God's  creatures,  Herzl  came  with  a  message  that  lit  up 
the  gloom  and  replenished  the  oil  in  the  lamp  that  was 
about  to  perish  of  exhaustion.  The  cumulative  pressure 
of  two  thousand  years  of  persecution  and  oppression 
had  almost  extinguished  the  last  glimmer  of  the  brilliant 
light  created  by  Israel's  prophets  and  tended  by  the 
Jewish  poets  and  prophets  of  succeeding  generations. 
So  many  centuries  had  passed  since  the  Restoration  to 
Zion  was  first  promised,  the  experiences  of  the  Wander- 
ing Jew  had  been  so  bitter  throughout  that  long-drawn 
agony,  that  history  was  beginning  to  merge  into  legend ; 
and  the  reality  contrasting  so  painfully  with  the  hope, 
the  annual  cry  at  the  celebration  of  the  Passover,  "Next 
year  in  Jerusalem ! ' '  had  become  more  and  more  a  mere 
formula.  It  was  at  this  juncture  that  Herzl  arose  and 
gave  to  the  eternal  movement  for  the  Return  to  Zion  a 
strong  practical  impulse.  It  was  he  who  brought  Israel 
back  into  the  family  of  the  nations.  Out  of  a  number  of 
widely  scattered  fragments,  sundered  one  from  another 
by  distance,  by  interests,  by  culture,  by  surroundings, 
by  sentiment,  he  formed  again  a  nation.  He  re-created 
the  Jewish  consciousness  and  made  every  Jew  feel  his 
kinship  with  his  fellow-Jews.  The  Zionist  Movement  has 
been  great  enough  to  bring  into  its  fold  Jews  of  every 
complexion,  religious  and  physical.  From  every  corner 
of  the  earth,  in  innumerable  garbs,  Jews  of  every  coun- 
try made  the  annual  pilgrimage  to  the  Congress  over 
which  Herzl  was  wont  to  preside,  and  where  he  was  ac- 
customed to  conduct  the  deliberations  of  a  cosmopolitan 
gathering  three-quarters  of  whom  were  often  totally  un- 
acquainted with  the  language  in  which  they  were  being 


The  East  African  Project  205 

addressed,  and  for  whose  benefit  every  speech  had  to  be 
translated  into  four  languages.  With  him  year  after 
year,  they  repeated  the  abjuration  of  the  psalmist :  ' '  If 
I  forget  thee,  0  Jerusalem,  may  my  right  hand  forget  its 
cunning ! ' '  Jews  of  every  variety  of  belief  and  want  of 
belief  ranged  themselves  around  him.  The  superstition- 
tinged  extremists  of  the  East  and  the  assimilated  Sun- 
day-service Jews  of  the  West,  the  Karaite  rejectors  of 
traditional  Judaism — representatives  of  the  earliest 
schism  in  Jewry  in  the  Christian  era — and  the  Talmud- 
olaters,  joined  with  the  agnostics  of  the  Jewish  race, 
all  imbued,  however,  with  the  Jewish  spirit  and  brought 
together  in  the  furtherance  of  the  one  ideal.  In  the 
course  of  eight  years  Herzl  created  the  Jewish  nation 
and  secured  its  recognition  by  the  rulers  of  most  of  the 
Great  Powers  of  Europe,  and  then  he  died  at  the  age  of 
forty-four,  sacrificing  his  life  as  he  had  already  sacri- 
ficed his  fortune,  to  the  Cause  the  furtherance  of  which 
was  his  legacy  to  the  Jewish  people. 

The  Choveve  Zion  element  in  the  Zionist  Movement 
was  very  prominent  in  the  opposition  to  the  East  African 
project.  They  had  become  restless  even  before  the 
British  offer  was  known,  and  simultaneously  with  the 
holding  of  the  sixth  Congress  at  Basle,  there  was  held 
in  Palestine  a  Choveve  Zion  Congress,  under  the  chair- 
manship of  M.  Ussischkin,  a  Russian  Zionist  leader, 
who  had  been  prominent  in  the  counsels  of  the  Choveve 
Zion  before  the  advent  of  Herzl.  This  Palestinian 
Congress  recommended  the  formation  of  a  permanent 
body,  representative  of  Palestinian  colonization  interests, 
Zionist  and  non-Zionist,  which  would  in  effect  have  been 
a  rival  to  Herzl's  organization.  To  these  Palestinian  en- 
thusiasts the  colonization  of  Palestine,  not  the  political 


206  Palestine 

and  tactical  movements  which  Herzl  favoured,  was  both 
the  means  and  the  goal.  A  few  months  after  the  holding 
of  the  sixth  Congress,  the  majority  of  the  prominent 
Russian  Zionists  convened  a  Russian  Congress  at  Char- 
kow,  which  formed  an  organization  of  their  own  within 
the  movement,  designed  to  safeguard  the  Palestinian 
ideal.  This  Charkow  conference  threatened  a  sort  of 
revolt  against  Herzl 's  rule.  It  helped  to  organize  the 
forces  which  were  opposed  to  the  East  African  project, 
and  might  ultimately  have  acquired  a  commanding  posi- 
tion in  the  general  Movement  if  events  had  not  marched 
into  quite  an  unexpected  direction.  In  January  of 
1905  another  conference  of  Russian  Zionists,  held  at 
Wilna,  strongly  supported  the  platform  which  the  Char- 
kow Congress  had  adopted. 

The  seventh  Congress,  the  most  historic  in  the  history 
of  the  movement,  was  held  at  Basle  at  the  end  of  July, 
1905.  The  report  of  the  commission  which  had  been 
sent  to  East  Africa  was  not  altogether  favourable,  as 
the  question  whether  the  region  was  suitable  for  agricul- 
tural as  distinct  from  pastoral  settlement  remained  in 
doubt.  The  suitability  of  the  offered  territory,  however, 
scarcely  came  into  consideration  at  the  Congress.  The 
question  that  arose  for  settlement  was  whether  the  Zion- 
ist Organization  was  to  confine  its  efforts  to  securing  the 
creation  of  a  Jewish  autonomous  State  in  Palestine  or  in 
the  neighbouring  lands  or  not.  From  the  opening  of  the 
Congress  there  could  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  views  of  the 
majority  of  the  delegates.  In  fact,  at  a  meeting,  at 
which  they  numbered  six  hundred,  a  resolution  was 
adopted,  nemine  contradicente,  reaffirming  the  funda- 
mental principle  of  the  movement  as  adopted  at  the  first 
Congress,  rejecting  either  as  an  end  or  a  means,  all 


The  East  African  Project  207 

colonization  outside  of  Palestine  and  the  adjacent  lands, 
thanking  the  British  Government  for  its  offer  and  de- 
clining it,  but  expressing  the  hope  that  the  further  good 
offices  of  that  Government  would  be  available  "in  any 
matter  it  may  undertake  in  accordance  with  the  Basle 
programme."  The  numbers  of  the  advocates  of  East 
Africa  were  relatively  so  small  that  they  abstained  from 
voting.  The  breach  between  them  and  the  majority  was, 
however,  impassable.  Under  the  leadership  of  Mr. 
Zangwill  and  Professor  Mandelstamm  they  seceded  from 
the  Zionist  Movement  and  founded  the  Jewish  Terri- 
torial Organization  (the  Ito),  whose  object  is  the  crea- 
tion of  a  Jewish  autonomous  settlement,  without  any 
limitation  of  locality. 

The  rejection  of  the  East  African  project  was  the  last 
outstanding  feature  in  the  Zionist  Movement.  Its  sub- 
sequent history  was  relatively  humdrum  and  attracted 
little  attention  outside  of  Jewry  or  even  of  Zionist  cir- 
cles. Max  Nordau  was  offered  the  formal  succession  to 
Herzl,  but,  entirely  on  personal  grounds,  was  unable  to 
accept  it.  No  president  of  the  organization  was  there- 
upon elected  by  the  seventh  Congress.  Instead  an 
executive  committee  representative  of  all  parties  in  the 
movement,  and  consisting  of  David  Wolffsohn  and  Pro- 
fessor Otto  Warburg  from  Germany,  Heer  Jacob  Kann 
from  Holland,  Dr.  Kohan-Bernstein  and  M.  Ussischkin 
from  Russia,  Mr.  L.  J.  Greenberg  from  England,  and 
Dr.  Alexander  Marmorek  from  France,  was  appointed. 
This  committee  chose  Wolffsohn,  one  of  Herzl's  immedi- 
ate followers,  who  had  been  prominent  in  the  movement 
since  its  inception,  as  its  chairman,  and  he  became  the 
nominal  head  of  the  Zionist  Organization.  The  seventh 
Congress  marked  not  only  the  concentration  of  Zionist 


208  Palestine 

energies  on  Palestine.  It  went  farther  and  reacted 
from  Herzl's  policy  of  making  practical  work  subservi- 
ent to  political  aims.  Under  his  influence  all  practical 
colonization,  such  as  that  to  which  the  Choveve  Zion  had 
devoted  itself,  was  discouraged,  pending  the  favourable 
conclusion  of  the  efforts  to  obtain  a  charter  or  other 
guarantee  of  security.  The  East  African  project  itself 
was,  however,  to  some  extent  an  admission  of  the  failure 
of  the  political  policy,  and  the  death  of  Herzl,  the  diplo- 
matist par  excellence  of  the  movement,  pushed  the  politi- 
cal aspect  still  farther  into  the  background.  For  a  time 
indeed  the  organization  was  incapable  of  any  movement : 
all  its  efforts  were  concentrated  on  the  task  of  preserving 
its  existence.  The  practical  party,  that  which  advo- 
cated immediate  work  in  Palestine,  was  in  the  meanwhile 
growing  stronger.  The  Turkish  Revolution  of  1908 
gave  a  further  severe  blow  to  the  advocates  of  a  charter. 
Under  the  new  regime  all  the  inhabitants  of  Turkey, 
without  distinction  of  race  or  creed,  were  to  be  treated 
equally.  There  was  no  room  in  the  Constitution  for  ex- 
ceptional treatment  of  any  province  or  any  class  of  the 
population.  In  these  circumstances  it  was  obvious  that 
special  political  concessions  to  the  Jews  were  out  of  the 
question,  and  the  only  policy  that  remained  was  the  de- 
velopment of  Palestine  by  Jews  under  the  protection  of 
the  Turkish  Government,  whose  subjects  they  would 
sooner  or  later  become.  When  the  majority  of  the  in- 
habitants of  Palestine  were  Jews,  and  the  greater  part 
of  the  industry — commercial,  industrial,  and  agricultural 
— was  in  their  hands,  when  the  predominant  culture  was 
Jewish,  the  problem  of  Zionism  would  be  solved,  for 
Palestine  would  then  be  a  Jewish  land.  It  was  obvious 
to  all  parties  that  the  only  possibility  of  fruitful  action 


The  East  African  Project  209 

lay  in  this  direction.  The  preceding  and  succeeding 
chapters  of  this  book  show  how  far  Jewry  had  progressed 
on  this  road,  and  how  surely  they  had  laid  their  founda- 
tions by  the  wayside. 

If  conditions  in  Palestine  had  remained  unchanged  it 
is  certain  that,  possibly  even  in  the  course  of  the  present 
generation,  this  goal  would  have  been  attained.  Jewish 
development  and  progress  in  Palestine,  intellectually  as 
well  as  physically,  was  proceeding  surely  and  by  no 
means  slowly,  unassisted  by  the  Turkish  Government, 
but  not  very  seriously  impeded  by  it.  The  entry  of 
Turkey  into  the  war,  however,  put  everything  to  the 
hazard.  The  valuable  results  of  a  generation's  labori- 
ous toil,  and  of  nineteen  centuries  of  hope  and  anguish, 
were  in  jeopardy.  On  the  decision  of  the  approaching 
European  Congress  regarding  the  destiny  of  Palestine 
rest  the  hopes  not  only  of  the  thousands  and  tens  of 
thousands  of  the  Jews  of  the  Holy  Land,  but  also  of  mil- 
lions in  the  Diaspora. 

At  the  same  time  ever-increasing  attention  was  being 
given  to  the  cultural  side  of  the  movement — that  which 
was  intended  for  the  spiritual  regeneration  of  the  Jew- 
ish people,  for  the  safeguarding  of  their  self-respect  and 
self-consciousness,  and  for  the  preservation  of  their  self- 
culture,  the  Jewish  form  of  civilization.  The  purpose 
of  Zionism  is  not  only  to  secure  a  home  for  the  Jewish 
people,  but  also  to  preserve  the  Jewish  people  as  a 
people,  so  that  when  the  time  arrives  it  will  be  in  a  con- 
dition to  enter  and  remain  in  its  home.  The  first  essen- 
tial of  a  people  is  a  common  language.  The  language 
of  the  Jews — Hebrew — is  common  to  all  of  them  in  a 
sense,  but  is  running  a  very  great  risk  of  being  lost  to 
most.    One  of  the  objects  of  Zionism  was  to  preserve 


210  Palestine 

alive  this  bond,  which  joins  together  Jews  separated  by 
barriers  in  every  other  sphere.  From  the  foundation  of 
the  movement  Hebrew  was  recognized  as  one  of  the 
languages  of  the  Congress,  but  it  was  given  no  priority 
over  any  of  its  fellows.  The  eighth  Congress,  however, 
held  at  the  Hague  in  1907,  made  Hebrew  the  official 
language.  Another  decision  of  this  Congress  was  to 
form  a  special  department  for  work  in  Palestine,  and  in 
particular  for  the  encouragement  of  Hebrew  education, 
and  the  establishment  of  agricultural  and  urban  credit 
banks  there.  The  opening  of  a  permanent  office  of  the 
organization  at  Jaffa  was  also  decided  upon.  The  im- 
portance of  the  Palestine  Commission,  as  the  Palestinian 
department  of  the  organization  was  known,  grew  continu- 
ally, and  in  the  end  it  practically  monopolized  the  whole 
of  the  movement.  At  its  head  was  Professor  Otto  War- 
burg, a  distinguished  German  botanist,  who  had  for 
long  been  deeply  interested  in  Jewish  agricultural  efforts 
in  Palestine  and  other  regions  of  the  Near  East,  and  who 
had  been  one  of  the  most  prominent  members  of  the  Ezra 
Society.  Under  his  direction  practical  work  in  Pales- 
tine marched  with  relative  rapidity.  The  many  enter- 
prises which  came  into  being  attracted  interest  and 
support  without  as  well  as  within  the  Zionist  ranks,  for 
many  Jews  who  had  always  felt  attracted  by  the  idea  of 
the  re-creation  of  Jewish  life  in  the  Holy  Land  had,  on 
account  of  its  apparently  exclusively  political  character, 
been  hostile,  or  at  best  frigidly  neutral,  towards  the 
organization  founded  by  Herzl.  They  were  the  Moder- 
ates of  Zionism,  who  felt  that  the  immediate  task, 
sufficient  for  the  present  generation,  was  the  planting  of 
a  healthy  Jewish  life  in  Palestine.     The  ultimate  conse- 


The  East  African  Project  211 

quences  of  the  growth  of  that  life  did  not  concern  them 
but  a  future  generation. 

The  immediate  fruits  of  the  new  direction  the  move- 
ment was  taking  showed  themselves  in  several  organiza- 
tions, constituted  for  work  in  some  definite  field  in 
Palestine.  There  were  the  Hebrew  Higher  Grade  School 
at  Jaffa,  founded  in  1907,  and  the  David  and  Fanny 
Wolff sohn  Fund  for  the  Erection  of  Workmen's  Dwell- 
ings, constituted  in  the  same  year.  In  1908,  the  year  in 
which  the  Palestine  office  at  Jaffa  was  established,  the 
Palestine  Land  Development  Company  and  the  Anglo- 
Levantine  Banking  Company,  an  offshoot  of  the  Jewish 
Colonial  Trust,  were  founded.  At  the  ninth  Congress  at 
Hamburg  in  1909  it  was  decided  to  found  a  society  for 
the  encouragement  of  co-operative  agricultural  settle- 
ments in  Palestine.  At  the  last  Congress  held,  that  at 
Vienna  in  1913,  the  establishment  of  a  Hebrew  Univer- 
sity at  Jerusalem  was  decided  upon.  Particulars  of  the 
work  of  these  institutions  will  be  given  later. 

Wolffsohn  remained  the  head  of  the  movement  until 
1911,  when  his  place  was  in  effect  taken  by  Professor 
Warburg.  By  this  act  the  control  of  the  organization 
passed  nominally  as  well  as  actually  into  the  hands  of 
the  "Practical  Work"  party.  The  control  of  the  move- 
ment was  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  small  Executive 
Committee,  which  was  re-elected  with  the  addition  of 
Dr.  Tschlenow,  an  eminent  Moscow  physician,  by  the 
eleventh  Congress.  The  headquarters  of  the  movement 
had  by  then  been  removed  to  Berlin,  the  residence  of 
Professor  Warburg.  When  it  was  under  Wolffsohn 's 
control,  its  centre  was  at  Cologne.  The  outbreak  of  the 
War  threatened  the  disintegration  of  the  organization, 


212  Palestine 

composed  of  elements  emanating  from  all  the  belligerent 
countries,  as  well  as  from  many  of  the  neutral  ones.  To 
avoid  this,  strenuous  efforts  were  made.  For  a  time  it 
was  thought  that  the  centre  of  the  movement  would 
shift  to  the  New  World,  and  that  all  Zionist  activities 
would  radiate  from  New  York,  where  one  member  of  the 
Executive  Committee  happened  to  be  at  the  time  of  the 
outbreak  of  the  war.  The  American  Committee,  under 
the  chairmanship  of  Justice  Brandeis,  that  was  formed 
did  much  to  safeguard  the  interests  of  the  movement  in 
that  time  of  crisis.  The  unity  of  the  Zionist  Organiza- 
tion was,  however,  secured  by  immediate  transfer  from 
Germany  to  neutral  lands — the  Jewish  National  Fund 
to  the  Hague,  the  Zionist  Organization  itself  to  Copen- 
hagen. At  the  same  time  the  Executive  Committee 
deputed  its  authority  to  two  of  its  members,  Dr.  Tschle- 
now,  the  Vice-President  of  the  organization,  and  Mr. 
Nahum  Sokolow,  of  Warsaw,  who  were  free  to  move  in 
all  the  allied  and  neutral  lands. 

The  development  through  which  the  Zionist  idea  has 
passed  during  the  twenty  years  since  the  appearance  of 
Herzl  as  the  leader  of  his  people  has  owed  more  to  Mr. 
Asher  Ginzberg  (Achad  Ha 'Am)  than  to  any  other 
individual.  Nevertheless,  he  has  never  held  office  either 
in  the  organization  or  at  any  of  the  Congresses,  nor  has 
he  sought  or  obtained  any  prominence  in  the  delibera- 
tions of  the  latter.  Achad  Ha 'Am  was  one  of  the 
inspirers  of  the  Choveve  Zion  Movement.  To  him,  how- 
ever, that  movement  was  at  fault  in  absorbing  the  whole 
of  its  energies  in  "practical"  work,  to  the  neglect  of 
what  was  to  him  of  at  least  equal  moment — spiritual 
Zionism,  or  the  rehabilitation  of  the  Jewish  conscious- 
ness ;  and  in  order  to  keep  this  aspect  of  Zionism  in  the 


The  East  African  Project  213 

forefront,  the  Bene  Mosheh  was  founded  by  him. 
Herzl's  movement  in  its  earliest  stages,  in  Achad 
Ha'Am's  opinion,  erred  equally,  although  in  a  different 
direction,  for  the  spiritual  and  practical  aspects  of 
Zionism  were  neglected  and  subordinated  to  the  political 
aspect.  The  colonization  of  Palestine  was  no  longer  the 
main  object  of  the  movement.  The  securing  of  political 
guarantees  was  the  goal  to  which  all  energies  were  to  be 
devoted.  The  Choveve  Zion  and  Baron  Edmund  wanted 
to  use  an  existing  population  as  an  instrument  towards 
gaining  further  benefits.  Herzl  thought  it  wiser  not  to 
sink  a  penny  in  Palestine  until  guarantees  had  been 
sustained  for  the  security  of  the  investment.  Achad 
PlaAm  felt  no  less  strongly  than  his  colleagues  the 
necessity  for  a  centre  of  Judaism  and  of  Jewry  in 
Palestine,  but  he  felt  just  as  urgently  the  necessity  for 
preparing  the  Jewish  people  for  their  inheritance. 
Otherwise  there  was  a  risk  that  when  Palestine  was 
ultimately  obtained  as  a  centre,  there  would  be  no 
Jewry  to  take  possession  of  it. 

The  state  oi  Jewry,  and  with  it  Judaism,  during  the 
latter  decades  of  the  nineteenth  century  and  in  the  open- 
ing years  of  the  present  one,  has  been  very  critical. 
One-half  of  the  Jewish  people  has  been  groaning  under  a 
relentless  persecution  which  has  been  gradually  destroy- 
ing it  in  body  and  soul.  The  other,  but  recently  escaped 
from  the  confines  of  the  Ghetto,  has  found  a  new  world 
opened  before  it.  Into  the  pleasures  of  newly-found 
liberty  it  has  rushed  headlong  at  the  great  risk  of  losing 
itself  entirely  there.  The  Jew,  having  discarded  his 
Jewish  culture,  assimilates  rapidly  to  the  surrounding, 
numerically  overwhelming  population,  and  so  far  as 
Jewry  is  concerned  this  assimilation  means  annihilation. 


214  Palestine 

It  is  the  assimilation  of  the  wineglassful  of  wine  with  the 
basin  of  water.  As  a  consequence  it  is  exceptional  for 
the  third  generation  of  assimilated  Jews  to  be  Jewish 
even  nominally.  If  it  had  not  been  for  immigration 
from  Eastern  Europe  during  the  past  half -century, 
Judaism  would  have  been  practically  extinct  to-day  in 
such  countries  as  England,  France,  and  America,  where 
the  Jew  has  been  free  for  the  course  of  three  generations. 
In  fact,  the  Jewish  communities  of  these  countries  con- 
tain very  few  members  whose  ancestors  were  in  the  land 
a  century  ago. 

The  danger  which  this  tendency  meant  has  always 
been  very  present  to  Achad  Ha' Am.  Only  those  who 
consider  the  mission  of  Israel  to  be  fulfilled  can  be  satis- 
fied with  such  a  consummation ;  and  current  events  must 
convince  the  shallowest  thinker  that  the  mission  of  Israel 
among  the  nations  is  still  far  from  fulfilment.  To 
Achad  Ha 'Am  it  is  as  evident  as  to  any  one  that  only 
with  a  centre  in  Palestine,  untrammelled  by  all  external 
influences,  is  it  possible  for  Judaism — which,  it  must  be 
recognized,  is  more  than  a  form  of  religion :  it  is  a  civil- 
ization— to  develop  naturally  on  its  own  lines.  But  he 
never  forgets  that  the  creation  of  a  Jewish  centre  in 
Palestine  is  a  means,  not  the  end.  The  end  which  he 
keeps  before  him  is  the  preservation  of  the  soul  of  the 
Jewish  people.  There  are  twelve  millions  of  Jews  in 
the  world  to-day.  In  the  most  favourable  circumstances, 
after  perhaps  a  century  of  preparation,  Palestine  cannot 
hold  more  than  a  sixth  of  this  number.  There  are  six 
million  Jews  to-day  living  in  a  termless  agony.  If  by  a 
miracle  Palestine  were  made  immediately  capable  of 
receiving  a  population  as  large  as  that  which  it  will 
be  able  to  hold  after  generations  of  normal  preparation, 


The  East  African  Project  215 

two-thirds  of  these  sufferers  would  still  have  to  remain 
without.  It  cannot  therefore  ever  directly  solve  the 
problem  of  the  Jews  who  are  persecuted  or  of  those 
peoples  who  wish  to  eject  their  Jews.  Both  problems, 
which  are  in  fact  parts  of  one,  will  remain  or  be  solved 
elsewhere.  The  mission  of  Zionism,  as  interpreted  by 
Achad  Ha 'Am,  is  higher  even  than  to  bring  relief  to  the 
suffering,  to  provide  a  land  of  refuge  to  the  terrified 
fugitives;  it  is  to  preserve  alive  in  spirit  as  well  as  in 
body  the  people  which  has  already  provided  the  world 
with  its  system  of  morality,  with  the  best  elements  which 
modern  civilization  contains,  and  whose  mission  he  does 
not  believe  to  be  completed.  To  Achad  Ha 'Am,  in  fact, 
the  re-creation  of  the  Jewish  people  is  more  important 
than  its  part — the  restoration  of  the  Jews  to  Palestine. 
The  first  essential  of  a  people  is  its  tongue.  The  rehab- 
ilitation of  Hebrew  as  a  living  language  is  therefore  an 
essential  part  of  Achad  Ha'Amism  (as  Achad  Ha'Am's 
philosophy  has  come  to  be  called).  The  extent  to  which 
this  has  proceeded  will  be  shown  in  a  later  chapter. 
From  this  has  sprung  naturally  the  educational  revival 
in  Palestine,  equally  essential  to  Achad  Ha  'Amism,  which 
also  is  dealt  with  later.  But  Achad  Ha  'Am  does  not 
neglect  the  resettlement  in  Palestine  in  the  physical 
sense.  In  his  own  words,  "On  one  side  we  must  work 
for  the  creation  of  an  extensive  and  well-ordered  settle- 
ment in  our  ancestral  land;  but,  on  the  other  side,  we 
are  not  at  liberty  to  neglect  the  effort  to  create  there,  at 
the  same  time,  a  fixed  and  independent  centre  for  our 
national  culture,  for  learning,  art,  and  literature.  Little 
by  little,  willing  hands  must  be  brought  into  our  coun- 
try, to  repair  its  ruins  and  restore  its  pristine  glories; 
but  at  the  same  time  we  must  have  hearts  and  minds, 


216  Palestine 

endowed  with  knowledge  and  sympathy  and  ability,  to 
repair  our  spiritual  ruins,  and  restore  to  our  nation  its 
glorious  name  and  its  rightful  place  in  the  community 
of  human  culture." 

Three  men  in  the  present  generation  have  been  in  the 
van  of  the  movement  for  the  re-creation  of  the  Jewish 
people  in  Palestine,  and  all  three  have  their  monuments. 
The  colonization  of  Palestine  by  the  Jews  will  for  all  time 
keep  green  the  memory  of  Baron  Edmund  de  Rothschild, 
who,  if  he  did  not  initiate  it,  tended  it  and  cared  for  it 
as  if  it  were  his  own  flesh  and  blood  during  its  years  of 
infancy.  Whatever  the  future  will  bring  forth,  on  the 
pages  of  Jewish  history  which  relate  to  our  own  times 
the  name  of  Theodore  Herzl  will  stand  out  in  letters  of 
gold  as  that  of  one  who  gave  his  whole  life  in  order  to 
lead  his  people  back  towards  Zion.  Achad  Ha'Am's 
memorial  will  be  the  spiritual  rebirth  of  the  Jewish 
people. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

JEWISH   ORGANIZATIONS  AT   WORK  IN   PALESTINE 

In  reviewing  the  institutions  that  have  been  formed  for 
the  development  of  Palestine,  it  is  possible  to  adopt  two 
methods  of  classification.  One  may  divide  them  into 
those  which  owe  their  genesis  to  the  influence  of  Herzl's 
organization  and  those  which  do  not ;  or  one  may  classify 
them  as  institutions  belonging  primarily  to  the  Diaspora, 
or  primarily  to  Palestine.  Neither  classification  is 
entirely  satisfactory.  Some  of  the  pre-Herzl  institu- 
tions have  become  in  course  of  time  tinged  with  Zionism. 
In  many  cases  it  is  difficult  to  classify  an  institution  as 
belonging  to  the  Diaspora  or  to  Palestine.  If  one 
attempts  to  deal  with  these  many  institutions  in  the 
order  of  their  foundation,  the  result  is  not  satisfactory, 
nor  can  they  be  dealt  with  properly  in  their  order  of 
importance.  The  most  suitable  method  of  dealing  with 
them  is  to  group  them  according  to  activities,  after 
taking  all  other  circumstances  into  consideration. 

The  oldest  of  the  existing  institutions  that  operate  in 
Palestine  for  its  benefit  is  the  Chalukah,  some  account  of 
which  has  been  given  in  an  earlier  chapter.  For  the 
most  part,  the  Chalukah  is  not  organized.  The  funds  of 
which  it  is  composed  are  collected  by  messengers  sent 
from  Palestine  into  the  lands  of  the  Diaspora,  who  after 
deducting  their  expenses  and  a  liberal  commission,  hand 
the  balance  to  the  Palestinian  Rabbis  by  whom  they  are 

217 


218  Palestine 

commissioned.  This  system  is  of  considerable  antiquity 
and  is,  it  is  presumed,  generally  found  satisfactory.  The 
German  and  Dutch  supporters  of  the  Chalukah,  however, 
broke  away  from  it  more  than  a  century  ago.  In  1809 
they  founded  a  definite  administration  with  headquarters 
at  Amsterdam  and  a  representative  in  Jerusalem.  The 
costs  of  administration  were  thereby  much  reduced,  and 
the  funds  devoted  in  the  first  place  to  the  support  of 
needy  families  who  have  migrated  to  Palestine  from 
Holland  and  Germany;  secondly,  to  promote  the  eco- 
nomic, hygienic,  and  religious  welfare  of  the  Jewish 
population  in  Palestine ;  and,  finally,  to  further  the  study 
of  Rabbinic  literature  in  Palestine.  The  administration 
— whose  income  in  normal  times,  derived  entirely  from 
voluntary  contributions,  amounts  to  about  £8,000  a  year 
— was  reorganized  in  1906. 

The  non-Zionist  institution  whose  activities  in  Pales- 
tine are  the  most  considerable  is  the  Jewish  Colonization 
Association  (or  lea),  which  was  endowed  by  Baron 
de  Hirsch  with  a  fund  which  fell  not  far  short  of 
£10,000,000.  The  lea's  principal  objects  are  the  assist- 
ance and  promotion  of  the  emigration  of  Jews  from  the 
lands  of  oppression,  and  their  settlement  in  colonies  in 
North  and  South  America;  and  also  the  preparation  of 
such  Jews  for  colonization  by  means  of  the  establishment 
of  educational  and  training  institutions,  model  farms, 
loan  banks,  industries,  factories,  etc.  But  a  relatively 
small  portion  of  the  lea's  activity  lies  in  Palestine. 
North  and  South  America  and  Russia  are  the  centres  of 
its  labours.  The  lea's  main  work  in  Palestine  has  been 
the  administration  and  encouragement  of  the  colonies 
transferred  to  it  by  Baron  Edmund,  and  also  of  those 
which   it   has   itself   founded.     In   particular   it    gives 


Jewish  Organizations  219 

encouragement  to  settlers  with  a  small  capital.  If  the 
prospective  settler  is  able  to  produce  about  £200,  the 
lea  will  put  him  in  possession  of  a  holding  of  some  60 
acres,  build  a  house,  outhouses,  etc.,  for  him,  and  allow 
the  cost  to  be  repaid  in  small  instalments  spread  over 
forty  years.  Closely  related  to  the  colonization  work 
is  the  model  farm  established  by  the  Association  at 
Sedjcrah. 

Apart  from  its  work  in  the  colonies,  the  lea  has 
devoted  much  attention  to  the  town  populations  in  Pales- 
tine. Two  of  the  new  quarters  of  Jerusalem  have  been 
built  with  its  assistance.  The  lea  supplies  the  money 
required  for  the  erection  of  the  buildings,  on  easy  terms 
of  repayment  to  artisans,  small  shopkeepers,  etc.  The 
tenants  by  this  means  obtain,  as  soon  as  the  houses  can 
be  erected,  comfortable  dwellings  which  in  course  of  time 
become  their  own  property.  In  Jerusalem  the  lea  has 
also  established  a  silk  and  woollen  mill  and  a  dyeing 
industry  in  connection  with  it.  One  of  its  subsidiary 
institutions  supplies  knitting-machines  to  Jerusalem 
families,  who  pay  for  them  in  instalments.  Artisans 
who  have  been  trained  under  its  auspices  are  given  loans 
to  enable  them  to  open  business  on  their  own  account, 
and  a  loan  bank  has  been  established.  This  bank  lends 
money  on  security,  at  moderate  interest,  to  artisans, 
labourers,  manufacturers,  and  small  shopkeepers. 
Finally,  the  lea  grants  subventions  to  the  Alliance 
Israelite  to  assist  it  in  its  educational  work  in  Palestine. 

The  Alliance  Israelite  of  Paris,  the  Hilfsverein  der 
deutschen  Juden  of  Berlin,  and  the  Anglo- Jewish  Asso- 
ciation of  London,  confine  their  work  in  Palestine 
entirely  to  education.  The  institutions  of  the  Alliance 
include  the  Agricultural  School  at  Mikveh  Israel,  which 


220  Palestine 

has  become  the  nucleus  of  a  colony,  and  also  manual 
training  schools  in  most  of  the  cities  of  Palestine. 

The  Lemaan  Zion  Society  of  Frankfort-on-the-Main 
maintains  a  public  hospital,  an  ophthalmic  hospital,  and 
a  dispensary  in  Jerusalem ;  grants  assistance  to  the  sick 
poor,  lends  medical  accessories,  assists  students  and 
apprentices,  and  grants  loans  without  interest  to  artisans. 

The  Union  of  Jewish  Women,  also  a  German  institu- 
tion, but  with  branches  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  devotes 
most  of  its  attention  to  the  employment  of  girls  in  the 
manufacture  of  lace  both  in  its  workrooms  and  in  their 
homes,  and  to  its  girls'  agricultural  school  at  Kinnereth. 
A  subsidiary  work  of  the  latter  institution  is  the  train- 
ing of  Palestinian  Jewish  girls  to  be  fitted  to  become  the 
wives  of  farmers.  The  object  of  the  Union  of  Jewish 
Women — or,  to  give  it  its  full  title,  the  Jewish  Women's 
League  for  Cultural  Work  in  Palestine — as  stated  in  its 
statutes,  is  ' '  to  induce  all  Jewish  women  to  work  in  com- 
mon for  the  improvement  of  the  social  conditions  of  the 
Jews  in  Palestine.  This  work  is  more  especially  intended 
for  the  benefit  of  Jewish  women  and  children."  The 
Union  also  gives  some  attention  to  health  conditions  in 
Palestine.  Directly  and  indirectly  it  assists  in  the  fight 
against  the  two  scourges  of  Palestine,  malaria  and 
trachoma.  It  contributes  largely  towards  the  support 
of  a  hospital  at  Haifa  and  maintains  a  nursing  service. 

In  commemoration  of  the  sixtieth  birthday  of  Dr.  Max 
Nordau  a  fund  was  raised  for  the  establishment  of  an 
Hygienic  Institute  in  Palestine.  Several  well-known 
scientists,  including  the  world-renowned  Paul  Ehrlich 
and  Professor  Jacques  Loeb,  of  the  University  of  Cali- 
fornia, interested  themselves  in  the  project.  The  insti- 
tue  has  not  yet  been  established,  but  when  it  is  in  exist- 


Jewish  Organizations  221 

ence  its  purpose  will  be  to  devote  itself  to  the  suppression 
and  prevention  of  contagious  diseases,  to  enlighten  the 
people  on  the  most  important  hygienic  questions  by 
means  of  popular  leaflets,  and  to  act  as  an  advisory 
centre  to  the  Government  and  municipal  authorities  in 
regard  to  all  problems  of  sanitation.  In  the  meanwhile 
Mr.  Nathan  Straus,  an  American  Jewish  philanthropist, 
has  himself  established  and  maintained  a  Health  Bureau 
at  Jerusalem.  The  work  of  the  bureau  is  much  assisted 
by  the  Society  of  Jewish  Doctors  and  Scientists  for 
Sanitary  Improvements  in  Palestine. 

Another  American-Jewish  institution  operating  in  Pal- 
estine is  the  Jewish  Agricultural  Experiment  Station.  It 
was  incorporated  in  New  York  City  in  1910  for  "the 
establishment,  maintenance,  and  support  of  agricultural 
experiment  stations  in  Palestine  and  other  countries; 
the  development  and  improvement  of  cereals,  fruits,  and 
vegetables  indigenous  to  Palestine  and  neighbouring 
lands ;  the  production  of  new  species  therefrom  and  their 
distribution  elsewhere;  the  advancement  of  agriculture 
throughout  the  world;  and  the  giving  of  instruction  in 
new  and  improved  methods  of  farming."  The  head- 
quarters and  laboratories  of  the  station  are  at  Zichron 
Jacob,  where  also  are  situated  the  scientific  museum 
and  library.  Athlit,  near  Haifa,  on  a  large  estate  placed 
at  its  disposal  by  the  National  Fund,  is  the  scene  of  the 
experiments  and  demonstrations.  The  period  of  activity 
of  the  station  has  necessarily  been  very  brief.  Yet  it 
may  be  said  to  have  already  justified  its  existence.  Its 
director,  A.  Aaronsohn,  has  discovered  in  Palestine 
primitive  wild  wheat.  A  new  form  of  sesame,  twice  as 
valuable  as  that  hitherto  cultivated,  has  also  been  dis- 
covered.   Five  new  species  of  wheat  and  barley,  specially 


222  Palestine 

adapted  for  growth  under  the  conditions  to  be  found  in 
Palestine,  have  been  created.  A  variety  of  table  grape, 
ripening  three  weeks  earlier  than  those  of  Smyrna  and 
Cyprus,  which  have  been  to  a  large  extent  exported  to 
Egypt,  has  been  acclimatized.  The  superiority  of  the 
olive  of  Palestine  over  that  of  all  other  varieties  has  been 
demonstrated.  The  station  has  effected  great  improve- 
ments in  the  cultivation  of  the  mulberry -tree,  which  pro- 
vides food  not  only  for  silkworms,  but  also  for  Lebanon 
cattle.  It  has  improved  and  developed  the  cultivation 
of  the  native  spineless  cactus,  from  which  fodder  can  be 
provided.  In  other  directions  also  has  the  Jewish  Agri- 
cultural Experiment  Station  conferred  great  benefits  on 
the  land. 

Although  the  Central  Committee  of  the  Choveve  Zion 
Movement  at  Paris,  as  well  as  most  of  the  national 
societies,  especially  in  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States  of  America,  speedily  succumbed  to  the  compe- 
tition of  Herzl's  movement,  in  Germany  and  Russia, 
where  the  Choveve  Zion  were  far  more  strongly 
rooted,  the  organizations  survived,  and  after  a  time 
renewed  their  activity,  but  in  a  direction  different  from 
that  of  actual  colonization.  The  German  society,  the 
"Esra,"  now  devotes  itself  especially  to  the  establish- 
ment of  Jewish  labourers  in  the  colonies,  and  to  the 
erection  of  dwellings  for  them.  The  Russian  Society, 
the  ''Odessa  Committee,"  which  has  larger  means  at  its 
disposal,  works  on  a  somewhat  more  ambitious  pro- 
gramme. By  resolution  25-30  per  cent,  of  its  total 
expenditure  must  be  devoted  to  educational  purposes 
in  Palestine.  It  spends  a  large  portion  of  its  income, 
which  amounts  to  about  £16,000  a  year,  in  founding 
workmen's  colonies  and  in  the  provision  of  houses  and 


Jewish  Organizations  223 

small  holdings  for  labourers,  who  pay  for  them,  by 
instalments.  The  Committee  also  assists  commercial 
enterprises  in  the  colonies,  and  provides  grants  for 
doctors,  chemists,  watchmen,  etc.  It  encourages  the 
laying  out  of  gardens.  In  the  educational  field  it  sup- 
ports the  secondary  school  for  girls  at  Jaffa,  together 
with  a  Teachers'  Seminary  and  a  Kindergarten.  It  also 
subsidizes  schools  in  many  of  the  colonies,  and  its 
services  in  the  rehabilitation  of  Hebrew  as  a  living 
language  are  incalculable. 

The  headquarters  of  the  Zionist  Movement  were  at 
Vienna  under  Herzl,  at  Cologne  under  "Wolffsohn,  and 
at  Berlin  under  Professor  Warburg.  The  seat  of  the 
financial  institutions  of  the  movement  has,  however,  been 
uninterruptedly  in  London.  The  Jewish  Colonial  Trust, 
which  is  the  financial  instrument  of  the  movement,  is  an 
English  limited  liability  company  operating  as  a  bank. 
Its  nominal  capital  is  £2,000,000  in  pound  shares,  but 
only  a  little  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  million  has  been 
paid  up.  There  are  over  a  hundred  thousand  share- 
holders scattered  in  almost  every  country  of  the  civilized 
world.  Both  in  regard  to  the  number  of  shareholders 
and  their  distribution,  the  Jewish  Colonial  Trust  is 
unique  among  limited  companies. 

Herzl  founded  this  bank  with  the  intention  of  using  it 
to  finance  the  chartered  company  which  he  hoped  to  form 
with  the  approval  of  the  Sultan.  In  the  event  the  Trust 
itself  has  been  unable  to  act  in  Palestine,  but  it  has 
established  a  subsidiary  institution,  the  Anglo-Palestine 
Company,  which  is  also  an  English  Company  with  its 
headquarters  in  London,  and  has  become  one  of  the  finan- 
cial instruments  of  practical  Zionism.  The  task  of  the 
Anglo-Palestine  Company  has  been  very  much  more  com- 


224  Palestine 

plex  than  that  of  any  bank  or  banking  company  elsewhere. 
When  it  commenced  operations  thirteen  years  ago  there 
was  practically  no  system  of  credit  in  existence  in  Pales- 
tine. It  had  almost  to  initiate  banking  business  in  the 
country,  and  also,  in  the  absence  of  other  agencies,  to 
enter  into  business  which  was  not  strictly  within  the 
objects  for  which  the  company  was  founded.  Its  main 
purpose  is  the  strengthening  of  the  economic  position 
of  the  Jews  in  Palestine.  The  interests  of  the  Jews  are, 
however,  closely  intertwined  with  those  of  the  other  pro- 
ductive classes  of  the  population.  Thus  the  economic 
strengthening  of  the  Jewish  element  has  resulted  also 
in  the  benefit  of  the  more  valuable  of  the  Christian  and 
Moslem  elements.  That  these  latter  recognize  the  benefit 
the  Jewish  immigration  and  the  institutions  it  has 
brought  with  it  are  to  the  land,  is  shown  by  the  large 
number  of  Christian  and  Moslem  merchants,  shop- 
keepers, professional  men,  and  officials  who  utilize  the 
company  as  an  ordinary  bank. 

At  the  outset  of  its  activity  the  company  had  to  over- 
come very  considerable  difficulties,  some  deliberately 
placed  in  its  way  by  the  local  authorities,  others  inherent 
in  the  laws  of  the  land,  which  did  not  provide  facilities 
for  a  business  of  this  kind.  The  local  officials  were  at 
the  best  suspicious  of  the  newly-arrived  organization  and 
in  many  cases  hostile.  In  fact,  so  great  were  the  diffi- 
culties placed  in  the  company's  way,  that  it  was  found 
necessary  to  appeal  to  the  good  offices  of  the  British 
Minister  to  the  Porte.  These  were  readily  forthcoming 
and  succeeded  in  their  object.  When  the  Constantinople 
Government  gave  written  instructions  to  its  local  officers, 
forbidding  all  hindrance  to  the  activities  of  the  company, 
the  hostility  of  the  local  authorities  ceased.    A  fresh 


Jewish  Organizations  225 

difficulty,  however,  arose.  The  local  authorities  came 
with  repeated  requests  for  loans  which  it  was  not  politic 
to  refuse,  although  the  available  funds  of  the  company 
were  by  no  means  excessive  even  for  the  furtherance  of 
its  primary  objects.  The  loans  were  repaid,  but  only 
after  much  trouble  and  delay.  These  incidents  relate  to 
the  early  times.  The  local  authorities  in  due  course  came 
to  recognize  the  great  value  of  the  work  which  the  com- 
pany was  performing,  and  the  relations  with  them  have 
for  several  years  been  most  cordial. 

A  large  portion  of  the  company's  business  consists  of 
short-term  loans  to  colonists,  merchants,  and  manufac- 
turers on  the  security  of  growing  crops,  accruing  rents, 
merchandise  on  the  seas,  etc.  By  means  of  the  system  of 
short  credits,  a  whole  class  of  Jewish  merchants  has  been 
built  up  in  Palestine.  There  was  only  one  such  merchant 
when  the  company  commenced  operations.  The  entire 
absence  of  bad  debts  in  this  branch  of  the  company's 
business,  as  well  as  in  the  others,  is  noteworthy.  For  the 
granting  of  long-term  credits  at  first  no  means  were 
available,  but  whan  money  was  deposited  at  the  bank  by 
the  Jewish  National  Fund  and  other  institutions  for  this 
purpose,  it  was  possible  to  enter  into  this  business  on  an 
adequate  scale.  Long-term  loans  have  been  made,  espe- 
cially for  building  purposes,  and  among  the  improve- 
ments which  have  been  rendered  possible  by  this  means 
are  the  garden  suburbs  at  Jaffa,  Jerusalem,  and  Haifa. 
Similar  loans  have  also  been  made  for  the  extension  of 
plantations,  and  for  the  erection  of  workmen's  dwellings 
in  the  colonies.  In  the  same  category  come  the  loans  to 
the  administrative  bodies  of  the  colonies  to  enable  them 
to  carry  out  necessary  public  works.  By  means  of  loans, 
also,  these  bodies  are  enabled  to  farm  their  own  State 


226  Palestine 

taxes  and  thereby  save  their  constituents  about  50  per 
cent,  of  the  amount. 

The  system  of  mortgage  was,  until  a  few  years  ago, 
unknown  to  Turkish  law,  and  although  now  legal  is  not 
yet  adopted  to  any  extent.  That  of  raising  public  loans 
for  municipal  purposes  is  still  unknown.  These  loans 
were  therefore  beset  by  legal  difficulties,  which  have 
been  overcome  partly  by  confidence  in  the  company's 
clients — a  confidence  that  has  never  been  abused. 

It  has  been  the  policy  of  the  company  to  encourage  the 
formation  of  co-operative  societies  and  to  grant  them 
loans  on  favourable  terms.  As  a  consequence  many  such 
have  been  formed,  greatly  to  the  benefit  of  their  members 
and  indirectly  to  that  of  the  community  as  a  whole. 
The  Palestinian  Jewish  co-operative  movement  includes 
societies  for  the  disposal  of  the  produce  of  the  colonies, 
for  the  supply  of  water  to  groups  of  colonies,  for  the 
formation  of  workmen's  colonies,  for  the  securing  of 
supplies  of  artificial  manure,  and  in  one  instance  for  the 
establishment  of  a  new  agricultural  school.  Some  of 
these  local  co-operative  societies  have  developed  into 
regular  branches  of  the  company.  The  company  also 
makes  loans  to  educational  and  philanthropic  institutions 
whose  income  is  reliable,  but  comes  at  long  intervals. 
When  the  company  first  entered  upon  its  activities  there 
were  no  Zionist  institutions  engaged  in  land  purchase 
transactions  in  Palestine,  and  it  therefore  entered  also 
on  this  branch  of  business.  Since  that  time  institutions 
have  come  into  existence  for  that  specific  purpose,  and 
the  company  has  consequently  turned  its  energies  into 
other  directions. 

The  Anglo-Palestine  Company  now  has  branches  in 
all  the  principal  towns  of  Palestine  as  well  as  in  many 


Jewish  Organizations  227 

of  the  colonies.  Its  business  has  increased  year  by  year, 
and  its  annual  turnover  amounts  to  about  £6,000,000. 

The  Jewish  National  Fund,  also  an  English  company, 
is  raised  by  means  of  donations,  and  is  intended  for  the 
purchase  of  land  in  Palestine,  to  be  held  as  the  inalien- 
able possession  of  the  Jewish  people.  Legal  difficulties 
have,  however,  prevented  it  from  carrying  out  this  object 
to  the  full,  and  some  of  its  means  have  been  devoted  to 
subsidiary  objects  which  indirectly  serve  the  same  pur- 
pose. These  subsidiary  objects  include  the  establishment 
of  model  farms,  reafforestation  and  the  advance  of  money 
through  the  Anglo-Palestine  Company  for  the  building 
of  Jewish  quarters  in  the  towns.  The  land  held  by  the 
Fund  in  Palestine  has  been  leased  to  other  institutions 
working  for  the  welfare  of  the  country.  Thus  it  is  on 
National  Fund  land  that  some  of  the  co-operative  col- 
onies have  been  established.  The  Hebrew  secondary 
school  at  Jaffa  and  the  technical  college  at  Haifa  have 
also  been  built  on  land  belonging  to  the  Fund. 

Affiliated  with  the  Jewish  National  Fund  are  the  David 
and  Fanny  Wolffsohn  Fund  and  the  Olive  Tree  Fund. 
The  former  is  devoted  to  the  erection  of  workmen's 
dwellings  in  the  colonies.  The  latter  was  raised  for  the 
reafforestation  of  Palestine.  The  profit  derived  from  the 
plantations  is  to  be  devoted  to  the  furtherance  of  educa- 
tion in  Palestine. 

The  Palestine  Land  Development  Company  is  an  Eng- 
lish company  formed  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  private 
owners  to  acquire  land  in  Palestine.  Its  business  is  to 
buy  estates  and  to  sell  them  in  smaller  plots  either  before 
or  after  development.  Large  tracts  of  land  have  been 
purchased  in  conjunction  with  the  lea.  This  company 
cuts  roads  through  its  estates,  distributes  water  over 


228  Palestine 

them,  and,  in  fact,  performs  all  the  preliminary  work 
before  the  purchaser-occupier  arrives.  It  even  looks 
after  the  interests  of  absentee  owners.  In  order  to  keep 
a  steady  flow  of  purchasers  the  Palestine  Land  Develop- 
ment Company  encourages  the  formation  in  Europe  and 
America  of  Achuzahs,  or  land  plantation  societies,  con- 
ducted on  lines  similar  to  those  of  building  societies. 
These  societies  are  specially  popular  in  the  United  States 
and  in  Russia.  In  England  the  Order  of  Ancient  Mac- 
cabaeans,  a  large  Zionist  friendly  society,  has  formed  the 
Maccabsean  Land  Company,  Limited,  on  similar  lines. 
Some  of  these  societies  have  already  acquired  land  prepar- 
atory to  founding  colonies  in  Palestine.  A  development 
of  the  Achuzah  movement  in  the  United  States  is  the 
Zion  Commonwealth,  whose  ambitions  are  greater  than 
those  of  the  more  modest  Achuzahs.  This  organization 
has  acquired  400  acres  in  the  Valley  of  Jezreel,  with  an 
option  on  3,000  more ;  and  proposes  to  form  a  settlement 
there  on  a  combined  individual  and  co-operative  owner- 
ship system. 

There  are  many  other  smaller  organizations  created 
for  the  encouragement  and  development  of  the  settle- 
ment of  Jews  in  Palestine.  The  Erez  Israel  Colonization 
Society  was  formed  for  the  establishment  of  co-operative 
agricultural  workers'  colonies.  Two  such  have  been  es- 
tablished— at  Dagania  and  Merchavia  respectively.  If 
the  experiment  proves  successful,  it  cannot  fail  to  have 
far-reaching  influence  on  social  and  industrial  conditions, 
not  only  in  Palestine,  but  throughout  the  civilized  world. 
The  Sir  Moses  Montefiore  Testimonial  Fund,  created  in 
commemoration  of  Montefiore 's  many  missions  on  behalf 
of  his  people,  advances  money  for  the  erection  of  houses 
outside  of  Jerusalem.     The  Agudath  Netaim  is  a  Turkish 


Jewish  Organizations  229 

Plantation  Company  which  has  acquired  a  number  of 
sites  and  laid  them  out,  partly  on  its  own  account  and 
partly  on  that  of  others  for  whom  it  acts  as  agent.  The 
Palestinian  Real  Estate  Company  of  Berlin  buys  urban 
sites,  especially  in  Jerusalem  and  Haifa,  and,  after 
breaking  them  up,  resells  them.  The  Jewish  Coloniza- 
tion Society  of  Vienna  proposes  to  found  an  urban  settle- 
ment in  Palestine.  The  object  of  the  Moria  of  Hamburg 
is  to  promote  the  colonization  of  the  land  on  an  orthodox 
Jewish  basis.  The  Geulah  is  a  Russian  company  formed 
originally  for  the  purpose  of  buying  and  selling  land  in 
Palestine.  It  soon  discovered  that  it  was  advisable  to 
develop  the  land  before  attempting  to  sell  it.  It  operates 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  existing  settlements,  urban  as 
well  as  rural. 

The  Tiberias  Land  and  Plantation  Company  owns  land 
at  Migdal,  where  it  engages  in  cotton-growing.  The 
Palestinian  Plantation  Society  plants  fruit-gardens  in 
Palestine  on  behalf  of  owners  resident  in  Europe.  The 
Baroness  Cohn-Oppenheim  Olive  Grove,  on  the  shore 
of  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  is  extended  by  25  acres  every  year 
by  the  Jewish  community  of  Dessau.  The  Palastina 
Irrigation  Society,  a  German  company,  constructs, 
acquires,  manages,  leases,  and  sells  irrigation  works  in 
Turkey,  and  especially  in  Palestine.  The  object  of  the 
General  Jewish  Colonization  Organization  is  announced 
as  "Agricultural  colonization  in  Palestine,  Syria,  and  the 
Sinai  Peninsula,  upon  a  humanitarian  basis  and  without 
any  political  aim."  Its  financial  instrument  is  the 
Orient  Colonization  Company,  an  English  limited  com- 
pany. The  Moscow  Kadimah,  a  society  for  the  purchase 
and  settlement  of  land  in  Palestine,  acts  in  co-operation 
with  the  Orient  Colonization  Company. 


230  Palestine 

The  foregoing  list,  although  lengthy,  does  not  by  any 
means  exhaust  the  record  of  the  activities  in  Palestine 
of  the  Jews  of  the  Diaspora.  Educational  and  kindred 
activities  have  been  deferred  for  consideration  in  the 
next  two  chapters.  The  many  hospitals,  orphanages, 
and  other  benevolent  institutions  have  been  omitted  from 
a  record  intended  to  deal  only  with  the  regenerative 
forces  that  are  at  work.  They,  as  will  be  expected,  are 
very  numerous,  for  Jewish  charity,  in  Palestine  as  else- 
where, never  fails. 


CHAPTER  XX 

EDUCATION  IN  PALESTINE — THE  OLD 

The  history  of  the  development  and  progress  of  Jewish 
education  in  Palestine  falls  into  two  distinct  parts,  which 
correspond  roughly  with  the  two  colonization  periods, 
and  the  two  Jewish  populations — the  old  and  the  new. 
The  older  population  has  always  provided,  with  and 
without  external  assistance,  those  schools  and  colleges 
of  Jewish  learning  which  are  an  integral  part  of  orthodox 
Judaism  and  form  the  most  important  part  of  the  syna- 
gogue itself.  No  synagogue  in  any  part  of  the  world  is 
complete  without  its  school  of  Sorah  (the  Bible),  and 
these  are  lacking  no  more  in  Palestine  than  elsewhere. 
All  these  institutions,  from  the  college  of  Jewish  learn- 
ing to  the  elementary  religion  class,  may  be  classed 
together  as  institutions  of  religious  education.  For  the 
most  part  they  are  similar  in  organization  to  those  of  the 
Diaspora.  There  is  nothing  peculiar  about  them,  and  a 
chapter  devoted  to  this  system  of  education  in  Palestine 
would  be  little  more  than  a  catalogue  of  institutions.  On 
the  regeneration  of  Palestine  in  the  sense  in  which  the 
term  is  at  present  employed  they  may  be  said,  with 
justification,  to  have  had  no  effect. 

For  the  present  purposes  the  Jewish  secular  educa- 
tional system  is  the  one  that  merits  attention.  This,  in 
its  beginnings  and  until  the  last  few  years,  has  come 
entirely  from  without.     The  schools  have  been  estab- 

231 


232  Palestine 

lished  and  supported  by  foreign  agencies,  at  first  entirely 
in  a  spirit  of  philanthropy.  Gradually  some  of  them,  for 
a  time  at  least,  acquired  a  political  complexion,  and  took 
their  places  among  the  weapons  used  by  the  nations  from 
which  they  sprang  in  the  contest  for  political  influence 
in  the  Near  East.  None  of  these  or  of  the  other  of  the 
earlier  schools  was  founded  with  any  thought  for  the 
revival  of  Palestine  or  of  the  Jewish  people.  The  highest 
ideal  of  most  of  these  schools,  it  is  to  be  feared,  was  the 
training  of  the  Jewish  youth  of  Palestine  so  as  to  fit 
them  for  emigration  to  Europe  and  America.  With  the 
revival  of  Jewish  nationalism,  when  the  sleeping  spirit 
of  the  Jewish  people  once  again  began  to  stir,  a  new  type 
of  school  arose,  one  intended  to  train  the  Jewish  youth  of 
Palestine  to  remain  in  the  land  and  enrich  it.  Schools 
of  this  type  have  even  attracted  Jewish  parents  in  Europe 
and  the  other  Continents  to  send  their  children  to  Pales- 
tine to  be  educated  there.  As  this  new  type  has  ad- 
vanced, the  older  one  has  receded.  Some  of  the  older 
schools  have  been  absorbed  into  the  new;  the  others 
without  exception  have  shown  evidence  of  the  new  influ- 
ence. These  new  schools  have  all  been  raised  on  a  basis 
of  Hebrew  as  the  language  of  instruction  and  everyday 
use.  They  are  Jewish  schools,  whereas  the  older  ones 
were,  and  still  to  a  considerable  extent  are,  English, 
French,  or  German  Jewish  schools. 

The  movement  for  bringing  facilities  for  a  European 
education  to  the  Jews  of  Palestine  commenced  about  the 
middle  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  pioneer  was 
Albert  Cohn,  an  Austrian  Jew  settled  in  Paris,  who  was 
sent  by  the  Jews  of  France  to  the  East  to  investigate  con- 
ditions of  the  Jews  there.  He  had  the  implicit  confi- 
dence of  the  French  and  Austrian  Rothschilds,  and  it 


The  Old  Education  233 

was  with  means  supplied  by  them,  that  in  the  course  of 
his  five  visits  to  the  Holy  Land  during  the  years  1854  to 
1869,  he  founded  schools  and  other  institutions  at  Jeru- 
salem and  Jaffa,  as  well  as  in  other  cities  outside  of 
Palestine.  Great  difficulties  were,  however,  placed  in  the 
way  of  his  educational  programme  by  reactionary  Rabbis 
who  considered  all  secular  knowledge  heretical.  About 
the  same  time  Sir  Moses  Montefiore,  in  the  course  of  one 
of  his  several  visits  to  the  Holy  Land,  established  a  school 
for  girls  in  Jerusalem  where,  in  addition  to  the  ordinary 
subjects,  dressmaking,  embroidery,  and  domestic  economy 
were  taught.  Want  of  funds  compelled  the  closing  of 
this  school  after  a  few  years.  After  the  lapse  of  a  decade 
another  Anglo- Jewish  Girls'  School,  now  one  of  the  most 
valuable  Jewish  educational  centres  in  the  East,  was 
established,  and  one  is  almost  justified  in  considering 
the  present  school,  the  Evelina  de  Rothschild,  as  a  revival 
of  the  earlier  one  founded  by  Sir  Moses  Montefiore. 

A  third  Jewish  school  founded  in  Jerusalem  about  the 
same  time  was  the  Edler  von  Lamel  School,  which  has 
had  an  uninterrupted  career  until  the  present  day. 
Ludwig  August  Frankl,  the  Austrian  Jewish  poet  and 
man  of  letters,  visited  Jerusalem  in  1856  to  arrange  for 
the  establishment  of  a  school  which  Elise  von  Herz- 
Lamel  wished  to  endow.  The  reactionary  Rabbis  opposed 
him  also,  but  he  was  able  to  overcome  them  with  the 
support  of  the  Austrian  Consul  and  the  Turkish  states- 
man Kaimil  Pasha,  who  was  at  that  time  governor  of 
Jerusalem.  In  1865  a  Jewish  manual  school  was  founded 
in  Jerusalem  by  Baron  Franchetti,  of  Turin.  Three 
years  later  the  Evelina  de  Rothschild  School  for  girls 
was  founded  by  Baron  Lionel  de  Rothschild,  of  London, 
in  memory  of  his  daughter.     It  was  entirely  supported 


234  Palestine 

and  managed  by  the  Rothschild  family  of  England  until 
1894,  when  its  administration  was  transferred  to  the 
Anglo-Jewish  Association,  the  Rothschild  family  continu- 
ing their  generous  support.  In  1899  the  school  was 
reorganized,  and  Miss  Annie  Landau,  the  present  head- 
mistress, appointed  to  that  office.  With  her  advent  the 
language  of  the  school  became  English  instead  of  French, 
as  it  had  hitherto  been.  Under  Miss  Landau 's  direction 
the  school  has  reached  the  foremost  rank  of  similar  insti- 
tutions. It  is  the  finest  type  of  English  girls'  school, 
above  the  rank  of  elementary,  but  somewhat  lower  than 
that  of  secondary.  At  the  same  time,  it  has  managed 
to  secure  a  thorough  Jewish  atmosphere.  The  position 
it  has  attained  is  shown  by  the  support  and  approval 
given  to  it  by  the  best  Turkish  families  in  Jerusalem, 
who  send  their  daughters  to  be  educated  there.  The 
school  is  attended  by  children  of  all  classes,  but  only  from 
the  more  prosperous  are  fees  required.  The  accommoda- 
tion has  on  several  occasions  been  enlarged,  but  on  none 
has  it  been  able  to  keep  pace  with  the  demand.  Educa- 
tionally the  school  is  above  reproach.  The  institution  is, 
however,  far  more  than  a  school.  At  times  of  epidemic 
it  is  partly  a  hospital,  partly  a  place  of  refuge  for  the 
avoidance  of  contagion.  It  is  always  a  centre  for  the 
distribution  of  relief,  with  discrimination.  The  position 
to  which  the  Evelina  School  has  attained  could  never 
have  been  reached  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  personality 
of  Miss  Landau  and  the  devotion  of  her  staff.  She  has 
made  for  herself,  and  incidentally  for  the  school,  a  posi- 
tion of  great  influence  in  Jerusalem.  That  this  position 
is  recognized,  and  that  this  influence  is  beneficial,  is 
shown  by  the  continuance  of  the  school  undisturbed  on 
its  usual  course,  but  under  the  special  protection  of  the 


The  Old  Education  235 

Turkish  Government  and  the  local  authorities.  Al- 
though Britain  and  Turkey  had  been  at  war  for  more 
than  a  year,  Miss  Landau  still  remained  at  her  post,  with 
the  full  approval  of  the  British  Foreign  Office. 

When  Graetz,  the  Jewish  historian,  and  Gottschalk 
Lewy,  of  Berlin,  were  in  Jerusalem  in  1870,  they  were 
touched  by  the  deplorable  condition  of  the  Jewish 
orphans  there,  and  on  their  return  to  Germany  founded 
a  society  for  their  relief  and  education.  This  also  came 
under  the  ban  of  the  obscurantists.  Nevertheless,  a 
school  in  which  a  modern  education  was  given  was  estab- 
lished for  the  orphans. 

Montefiore,  on  the  occasion  of  his  last  visit  to  Jerusalem 
in  1875,  was  too  feeble  to  do  much  visiting,  but  he  re- 
quested his  friend  and  travelling  companion,  Dr.  Louis 
Loewe,  to  inspect  the  educational  institutions  and  report 
to  him  upon  them.  The  two  with  which  he  was  most 
impressed  were  the  Doresh  Zion  for  boys,  which  had 
been  established  ten  years  previously,  and  the  von  Lamel 
School.  The  former  had  been  founded  by  Joseph  Blum- 
enthal,  of  Paris,  and  was  then  under  the  management  of 
a  committee  of  Austrian  Jews.  It  had  fifty-four  pupils 
drawn  from  all  classes.  They  were  taught  Hebrew  in 
all  its  branches,  Talmud,  Arabic,  and  arithmetic.  The 
von  Lamel  School  had  forty  pupils,  who  were  taught 
Hebrew  and  Arabic.  The  Evelina  de  Rothschild  School 
had  119  pupils  who  were  instructed  in  Hebrew,  religion, 
arithmetic,  and  needlework.  Loewe  also  visited  several 
Rabbinical  schools  where  the  Talmud  and  kindred  sub- 
jects only  were  taught,  and  the  head-mistresses  of  several 
girls'  schools,  where  instruction  was  given  in  Yiddish, 
brought  parties  of  their  girls  to  be  received  by  Monte- 
fiore.   Within  a  few  years  of  Montefiore 's  visit,  German 


236  Palestine 

was  added  to  the  curriculum  of  the  von  Lamel,  and 
French  to  that  of  the  Evelina  School. 

The  educational  activity  of  the  Alliance  Israelite  in 
Palestine  commenced  outside  of  Jerusalem.  The  first 
of  their  schools  was  one  for  girls  at  Beyrout,  opened  in 
1878.  In  the  following  year  a  boys'  school  was  opened 
in  the  same  city,  and  a  trade  school  at  Haifa.  In  1881 
an  ordinary  boys'  school  was  opened  at  Haifa.  The 
boys'  school  and  the  manual  training  school  at  Jerusalem 
commenced  work  the  following  year.  In  1888  a  manual 
training  school  for  girls  was  opened  at  Beyrout.  Since 
that  year  boys'  schools  have  been  established  at  Jaffa, 
Acre,  and  Safed;  girls'  schools  at  Jaffa,  Haifa,  and 
Safed;  and  manual  training  schools  for  boys  at  Jaffa, 
Beyrout,  and  Safed.  In  most  cases  the  funds  have  been 
supplied  by  the  Jewish  Colonization  Association.  The 
Alliance  also  controls  the  agricultural  school  at  Mikveh 
Israel,  where,  in  addition  to  the  special  instruction,  a 
good  general  secondary  education  is  given.  The  schools 
at  Jerusalem  and  Haifa  receive  some  assistance  from  the 
Anglo-Jewish  Association.  At  all  these  Alliance  schools 
the  standard  of  education  given  is  relatively  high.  The 
language  of  instruction  is  as  far  as  possible  French, 
which  language  receives  every  encouragement.  Arabic 
is  also  taught,  but  Hebrew  only  as  a  dead  language. 

At  Beyrout  there  was  also  at  the  beginning  of  the  last 
quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century  an  excellent  private 
school  for  boys  founded  and  kept  by  a  local  resident, 
Zaki  Cohen,  who  felt  that  the  Jews  of  the  town  should 
have  educational  facilities  equal  to  those  of  their  Moslem 
and  Christian  neighbours.  At  first  he  lost  heavily  on 
his  undertaking,  and  although  previously  a  man  of 
means,  was  for  a  time  in  danger  of  becoming  impov- 


The  Old  Education  237 

erished,  but  the  fortunes  of  the  school  took  a  favourable 
turn,  and  when  the  school  was  visited  by  Colonel  (then 
Captain)  A.  E.  W.  Goldsmid  in  1883,  he  found  children 
attending  who  had  been  sent  from  communities  as  distant 
as  those  of  Constantinople  and  Asia  Minor.  The  school 
was  entirely  a  private  venture,  but  the  proprietor  made  it 
a  rule  for  every  nine  paying  pupils  to  admit  one  orphan 
or  child  of  destitute  parents  without  charge.  Hebrew, 
Arabic,  French,  English,  Turkish,  and  German  were 
all  taught  at  the  school. 

The  Manual  Training  School  at  Jerusalem  is  a  memo- 
rial to  Baron  Lionel  de  Rothschild,  of  London,  and  is 
generously  assisted  by  members  of  the  Rothschild  family. 
A  number  of  trades  are  taught  there  with  much  success. 
The  pupils  come  from  all  parts  of  Turkey,  from  Egypt, 
Russia,  Roumania,  Greece,  and  the  Balkan  States,  and 
when  they  have  become  efficient  craftsmen,  they  settle  in 
all  parts  of  Palestine  and  the  Near  East,  and  follow  the 
trades  which  they  have  learnt.  Moslems  and  Christians 
as  well  as  Jews  attend  the  school,  which  is  free ;  but  those, 
mostly  Moslems  and  Christians,  who  can  afford  to  pay, 
do  so.  There  is  apparently  no  maximum  limit  of  age, 
for  men  as  well  as  boys  attend  the  classes.  In  the  Boys ' 
School  English  is  among  the  languages  taught,  at  the 
express  desire  of  one  of  the  Pashas  of  Jerusalem,  who 
sent  his  son  to  the  school.  The  artisans  trained  at  the 
school  are  in  great  demand  even  while  they  are  still 
pupils,  and  much  of  the  best  work  in  sculpture,  carving, 
and  metal  performed  in  Jerusalem  in  recent  years  has 
been  produced  by  pupils  of  the  Lionel  de  Rothschild 
School. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

EDUCATION   IN   PALESTINE — THE  NEW 

The  foregoing  describes  the  educational  facilities  avail- 
able in  Palestine  when  the  new  Jewish  population  began 
to  enter.  The  tendencies  of  which  this  new  immigration 
was  a  symptom  in  due  course  revolutionized  the  educa- 
tional system  of  the  country,  just  as  in  another  direction 
they  created  a  new  centre  for  Palestinian  Jewry.  The 
European  schools  which  the  Alliance  and  other  organiza- 
tions had  founded  were  excellent  of  their  class,  and,  as 
European  schools,  had  no  need  to  fear  comparison  with 
any  others.  The  reports  on  their  work,  given  repeatedly 
by  competent  authorities,  were  such  as  any  body  of 
managers  might  justifably  envy.  From  the  wider  Jew- 
ish point  of  view,  however,  one  essential  was  missing. 
They  contributed  nothing  towards  the  future  of  the 
Jewish  people;  they  benefited  Jews  only  as  individuals, 
and  counted  themselves  the  more  successful  if  they  fitted 
a  young  Palestinian  Jew  to  succeed  in  his  chosen  calling 
in  France  rather  than  to  contribute  towards  the  rebuild- 
ing of  the  Jewish  people  in  Palestine,  or  even  to  support 
himself  as  an  Occidentalized  Jew  in  the  land  in  which 
he  was  born.  For  the  new  outlook,  the  new  national 
consciousness,  which  the  immigrants  of  the  past  thirty- 
five  years  have  brought  with  them,  a  different  educa- 
tional atmosphere  was  needed.  This  has  been  provided 
for  the  most  part  by  an  entirely  new  educational  system, 

238 


The  New  Education  239 

but  partly  also  by  a  modification  of  the  old — a  modifica- 
tion due  not  so  much  to  any  conscious  effort  as  to  the 
insistent  yet  perhaps  hardly  noticeable  influence  of  the 
new  conditions. 

The  pioneers  of  the  new  educational  movement  in 
Palestine  were  undoubtedly  the  Odessa  Committee,  who, 
acting  mainly  under  the  influence  of  Achad  Ha 'Am, 
decided  to  devote  a  very  large  proportion  of  their  activity 
in  Palestine  to  education,  and  to  encourage  by  every 
means  in  their  power  the  spread  of  Hebrew  as  a  living 
language.  It  was  well  recognized  that  the  only  means  of 
dealing  satisfactorily  with  a  heterogeneous  mass  of  chil- 
dren coming  from  all  points  of  the  compass  and  speaking 
a  score  of  tongues,  all  of  which,  so  far  as  they  were  con- 
cerned, belonged  to  the  past  rather  than  to  the  future, 
was  to  give  them  a  common  language.  Although  these 
children  understood  nothing  of  one  another's  everyday 
talk,  there  was  one  tongue  with  which  they  all  had  some 
acquaintance,  which,  moreover,  was  indigenous  to  the 
land  in  which  they  lived,  and  was  closely  connected  with 
all  that  was  best  in  the  past  of  the  people  to  which  they 
belonged.  Of  the  languages  spoken  by  the  children  there 
was  no  justification  for  giving  one  any  preference  over 
the  other.  The  choice  of  Hebrew  as  the  common  lan- 
guage, however,  even  on  practical  grounds,  had  much 
to  commend  it.  This  was  the  narrow  case  for  Hebrew 
in  Palestine.  The  wider  case  was  that  that  language 
alone  could  be  the  language  of  the  Jewish  people;  all 
other  tongues  were  proper  only  to  Jewish  communities. 

The  first  school  in  which  Hebrew  was  used  as  the 
language  of  instruction  in  all  subjects  was  the  Higher 
Grade  Girls '  School  in  Jaffa,  one  of  the  worthiest  monu- 
ments of  the  activity  of  the  Odessa  Committee  in  Pales- 


240  Palestine 

tine,  by  which  it  is  entirely  supported.  The  work  com- 
menced in  this  institution  has  spread  in  many  directions. 
The  Hebrew  Gymnasium  (Higher  Grade  School)  at 
Jaffa,  the  most  important  of  the  new  class  of  school  in 
Palestine,  owes  much  to  the  Committee,  as  does  also  the 
similar  institution  which  has  been  established  more 
recently  in  Jerusalem.  The  Odessa  Committee  also 
maintains  and  subventions  Hebrew  kindergartens  and 
schools  in  all  the  towns  and  in  several  of  the  colonies. 
It  has  penetrated  into  many  of  the  Talmud  Torahs  or 
Rabbinical  schools,  where  it  has  influenced  the  introduc- 
tion of  modern  subjects.  It  assists  the  Bezalel  School  of 
Arts  and  Crafts  of  Jerusalem,  and  subsidizes  libraries, 
Hebrew  newspapers,  and  publishers,  especially  of  educa- 
tional works.  It  was  the  Odessa  Committee  that,  under 
the  leadership  of  M.  Ussischkin,  in  1903  convened  a  con- 
ference of  Palestinian  teachers  and  formed  of  them  an 
organization  for  the  development  of  Hebrew  education  in 
Palestine,  and  for  the  improvement  of  the  position  of  the 
Hebrew  teachers  there.  The  Odessa  Committee  con- 
tinues to  support  this  organization  in  every  possible 
manner.  The  latter  has  been  continually  gaining  in 
influence  on  the  education  of  the  growing  generation,  and 
has  gradually  become  an  authoritative  centre  for  the 
consideration  of  educational  questions.  The  Teachers' 
Union  has  elaborated  a  uniform  system  for  Palestinian 
elementary  schools;  it  inspects  and  makes  appointments 
to  the  staffs  of  the  schools,  examines  candidates  for 
appointments  as  teacher,  and  has  codified  and  elaborated 
a  Hebrew  educational  terminology.  It  has  held  summer 
courses  of  lectures  on  subjects  such  as  physics,  botany, 
geology  and  school  hygiene,  using  on  all  occasions 
Hebrew  as  the  language  of  instruction  and  intercourse. 


The  New  Education  241 

The  Union  has  its  special  periodical,  Hachinuch  (Educa- 
tion). 

Another  institution  that  has  conferred  great  benefits 
on  the  cause  of  Jewish  education  in  Palestine  is  the 
Hilfsverein  der  deutschen  Juden.  With  objects  some- 
what similar  to  those  of  the  Alliance  Israelite  and  the 
Anglo-Jewish  Association,  the  Hilfsverein,  coming  later 
into  the  field,  after  the  new  Hebrew  movement  had  com- 
menced, was  able  to  adapt  its  organization  to  the  new 
conditions  more  easily  than  was  the  case  with  the  other 
institutions  which  had  been  founded  and  had  grown  up 
under  the  older  regime.  Thus,  from  their  establishment 
the  schools  of  the  Hilfsverein  accepted  Hebrew  as  the 
language  of  the  new  Palestine.  That  language,  as  a 
living  tongue,  therefore  from  the  first  occupied  a  very- 
prominent  position  in  its  school  system.  As  formally 
stated,  the  Hilfsverein  exists,  so  far  as  Palestine  is  con- 
cerned, "to  train  the  Jewish  youth  in  the  Orient  to  have 
a  love  for  its  home,  to  remain  permanently  settled  on 
the  land,  and  to  earn  its  own  living."  But  political 
motives  are  not  altogether  wanting,  and  the  Hilfsverein, 
like  the  Alliance  and  the  Anglo-Jewish  Association,  was 
also  at  one  period  of  its  career  intended  to  further  the 
interests  of  the  State  from  which  it  emanates.  Conse- 
quently German  occupies  an  important  position  in  the 
curriculum  of  its  schools. 

Although  the  last  comer  in  the  field,  the  Hilfsverein 
has  constructed  a  network  of  excellent  schools  all  over 
Palestine.  They  range  from  kindergartens  up  to  a 
teachers'  seminary  and  a  seminary  for  Rabbis.  In  Jeru- 
salem it  has  three  kindergartens,  a  course  for  kinder- 
garten teachers,  a  girls'  school,  an  evening  school  for 
adults,  a  commercial  school  in  addition  to  the  two  semin- 


242  Palestine 

aries,  and  the  von  Liimel  School  for  boys,  the  adminis- 
tration of  which  has  been  transferred  to  it.  The  Hilfs- 
verein  also  subventions  several  other  educational  institu- 
tions in  Jerusalem.  That  city  is  the  centre  of  the  organ- 
ization's activity,  but  it  does  not  monopolize  the  whole 
of  it.  At  Jaffa  it  supports  three  kindergartens  and  a 
boys '  school ;  at  Haifa  a  kindergarten  and  a  higher-grade 
school;  at  Safed,  Beyrout,  and  Tiberias,  kindergartens. 
At  Rechoboth  it  helps  to  support  a  kindergarten  and  a 
school  for  boys  and  girls,  at  Katrah  a  school.  It  is 
interested  in  thirty  schools  in  all  in  Palestine,  and  has 
3,000  children  under  its  influence. 

The  Alliance  is  concerned  with  the  education  of  about 
2,200  children.  Its  schools  for  boys  and  girls  are  to  be 
found  in  all  the  cities  of  Palestine.  In  addition  there 
are  the  great  technical  school  at  Jerusalem,  technical 
schools  at  Jaffa,  Haifa,  and  Safed,  and  the  Agricultural 
School  at  Mikveh  Israel. 

There  is  no  Jewish  colony  in  Palestine,  except  perhaps 
the  very  smallest,  that  does  not  supply  facilities  for  the 
education  of  its  children,  and  in  every  case  the  school 
is  well  equipped  and  staffed  by  teachers  zealously  devoted 
to  their  profession.  Besides  the  schools  in  the  colonies 
supported  by  the  Hilfsverein,  the  lea — that  is  to  say, 
the  Baron — pays  the  expenses  of  a  large  number.  The 
management  of  these  schools,  however,  remains  with  the 
colonists,  the  lea  contenting  itself  with  supplying  the 
funds.  In  several  of  the  larger  schools  there  is  also  a 
Talmud  Torah  or  school  of  the  Torah  (the  Bible)  sup- 
ported by  the  Frankfort  Union  for  the  Interests  of 
Orthodox  Judaism.  These  schools  combine  an  agricul- 
tural education  with  that  more  usually  given  in  schools. 
At  Petach  Tikvah,  also,  the  Union  has  arranged  courses 


The  New  Education  243 

for  the  training  of  teachers.  The  language  difficulty 
which  sometimes  arises  among  the  mixed  populations  of 
the  towns  does  not  exist  in  these  colonies.  There  there  is, 
practically  speaking,  one  language  only — Hebrew.  Con- 
sequently without  exception  the  language  of  the  schools 
of  the  colonies,  no  matter  by  what  organization  they  may 
be  supported,  is  Hebrew. 

Apart  from  the  schools  supported  by  these  European 
organizations,  there  are  other  educational  institutions, 
several  of  them  of  the  most  important  in  the  country, 
which  are  independently  managed  and  supported,  or  at 
the  most  receive  assistance  from  the  Hilfsverein  or  the 
Odessa  Committee.  The  Theodore  Herzl  Hebrew  Gym- 
nasium at  Jaffa,  a  secondary  school  for  boys,  was  founded 
in  1907  by  an  association  of  Palestinian  teachers,  who 
were  determined  to  create  a  secondary  school  on  a 
Hebrew  basis.  The  difficulties  in  their  way  were  many. 
There  were  not  even  textbooks  in  Hebrew  for  many  of 
the  subjects  without  which  the  school  would  have  failed 
of  its  purpose — to  make  itself  equal  to  the  best  of  its 
class  in  Europe.  The  enthusiasm  and  zeal  of  the 
founders,  however,  overcame  all  difficulties.  The  hun- 
dred pupils,  boys  and  girls,  with  whom  the  school  opened, 
increased  sevenfold  in  the  course  of  seven  years.  The 
experiment  in  its  first  year  attracted  the  attention  of 
Mr.  Jacob  Moser,  of  Bradford,  who  was  travelling  in 
Palestine,  and  he  generously  defrayed  the  expense  of 
erecting  a  suitable  building.  The  fame  of  the  school 
spread  across  the  continent  of  Europe,  and  before  long 
Jewish  families  in  Europe  sent  their  sons  to  Jaffa  to  be 
educated  at  the  Hebrew  Gymnasium.  The  usual  secular 
subjects  are  taught,  and  also  the  Bible  and  Talmud,  all 
through  the  medium  of  Hebrew.    Instruction  is  also 


244  Palestine 

given  in  Turkish,  Arabic,  French,  and  German.  In  the 
upper  classes  the  school  separates  into  classical  and 
modern  sides.  The  leaving  certificate  is  recognized  as  an 
equivalent  of  matriculation  at  several  European  and 
American  Universities,  and  pupils  have  passed  direct  to 
the  Universities  of  Constantinople,  Berlin,  Paris,  and 
New  York.  In  1909  a  similar  Hebrew  Gymnasium  was 
founded  in  Jerusalem,  where  it  has  progressed  towards 
a  similar  success. 

The  Jaffa  Gymnasium  has  no  religious  basis.  It  is 
Jewish  only  in  the  national  sense.  Its  pupils  and  staff 
are  drawn  from  all  schools  of  thought  in  Judaism,  and 
in  order  that  offence  shall  be  given  to  none  of  them, 
positive  Judaism  is  not  taught  there.  This  did  not 
satisfy  the  orthodox  section  among  the  Zionists,  who,  in 
1909,  opened  another  Hebrew  higher-grade  school  at 
Jaffa,  the  "Tachkemoni,"  which  is  on  a  "religious  basis, 
adapted  to  Palestinian  conditions."  A  reading-room 
and  continuation  classes  for  ex-pupils  who  have  passed 
through  the  school  are  connected  with  it.  The  school  is 
for  boys  only,  but  the  establishment  of  a  similar  school 
for  girls  is  in  contemplation. 

The  success  of  these  schools  in  Jaffa  and  others  of 
modern  character  in  other  parts  of  Palestine  turned  the 
attention  of  the  organizers  of  Hebrew  education  in 
Palestine  to  the  necessity  for  preparing  the  next  step  in 
the  educational  ladder.  The  desirability  of  a  technical 
institute  was  manifest  if  the  best  was  to  be  obtained  from 
the  material  which  the  new  educational  institutions  were 
forming  and  developing.  To  found  such  an  institution, 
if  it  were  to  be  of  value,  a  large  sum  was  needed.  The 
success  of  the  Jaffa  Gymnasium  had,  however,  gained 
friends  from  unexpected  quarters,  and  it  was  not  long 


Weaving  Carpets  in  the  Bezalel 


The  Bezalel  School 


The  New  Education  245 

before  a  sum  of  £60,000  was  available  for  the  new  insti- 
tution. The  nucleus  was  provided  by  a  legacy  of 
£10,000  bequeathed  by  "Wolf  Wissotzky,  a  Russo-Jewish 
philanthropist  who  had  been  greatly  attracted  by  the 
Choveve  Zion  Movement.  Twice  that  amount  was  pre- 
sented by  Mr.  Jacob  Schiff,  of  New  York,  the  leader  of 
American  Jewry  in  all  works  for  the  benefit  of  his  people, 
who  had,  however,  not  hitherto  displayed  any  special 
interest  in  the  Jews  of  Palestine.  The  Baroness  Cohn- 
Oppenheim  Foundation,  which  is  connected  with  the 
Hilfsverein,  contributed  £15,000,  and  £4,000  came  from 
the  Jewish  National  Fund.  With  such  support  the 
project  went  forward.  A  site  was  obtained  at  Haifa, 
building  operations  commenced,  and  it  was  expected  that 
the  Middle  School  connected  with  the  college  would  have 
been  opened  in  April,  1914.  The  governing  body  was 
representative  of  the  principal  donors,  but  in  the  ab- 
sence of  the  American  members,  the  power  rested  with 
the  members  of  the  Hilfsverein,  who  formed  the  work- 
ing majority. 

Some  six  months  before  the  date  appointed  for  the 
opening  a  crisis  arose  in  the  Hilfsverein  schools  in  Pales- 
tine which  quickly  spread  to  the  projected  polytechnic 
also.  The  German  institution  had  accepted  the  new 
Hebrew  movement  with  apparent  cordiality,  and  its 
schools  had  become,  with  the  full  sanction  of  the  govern- 
ing body  in  Berlin,  strongholds  of  the  new  movement. 
Apparently,  however,  while  the  principal  object  of  the 
Hilfsverein  remained  the  benefit  of  Palestinian  Jewry 
and  the  development  of  the  new  Jewish  life,  the  interests 
of  Germany  also  were  not  forgotten.  As  a  means  of 
supporting  these  the  propagation  of  German  in  the  Near 
East  was  very  important.     The  Hilfsverein,  it  seems, 


246  Palestine 

was  willing  that  Hebrew  should  be  a  language  of  instruc- 
tion in  its  schools,  but  it  was  also  anxious  that  German 
should  occupy  a  position  little  if  at  all  inferior  to  it. 
Hebrew,  however,  seemed  to  be  about  to  monopolize  the 
schools  of  the  Hilfsverein,  and  in  order  to  preserve  the 
status  quo  the  Berlin  committee  decreed  that  in  future 
certain  subjects  were  to  be  taught  in  German.  The  re- 
sult of  this  decision  was  unexpected,  for  few,  if  any, 
knew  the  strength  that  the  Hebrew  movement  had  ac- 
quired. A  strike  immediately  spread  among  the  teachers 
and  pupils  of  the  Hilfsverein  schools.  Under  the  leader- 
ship of  Mr.  David  Yellin,  one  of  the  most  prominent  of 
Palestinian  Jews,  new  schools  on  a  Hebrew  basis  were 
set  up  in  all  parts  of  the  country  for  the  accommodation 
of  the  pupils  who  had  seceded  from  the  German  ones. 
The  task  which  Mr.  Yellin  had  undertaken  was  a  very 
heavy  one,  but  the  Zionist  Organization  quickly  came 
to  his  assistance.  Whether  this  new  network  of  schools 
would  have  continued  its  activity,  or  whether  a  modus 
Vivendi  with  the  Hilfsverein  would  have  been  found, 
cannot  be  said,  for  before  any  opportunity  for  develop- 
ment was  given,  Europe,  and  shortly  afterwards  West- 
ern Asia,  was  plunged  in  war. 

The  struggle  between  German  and  Hebrew  in  the 
Hilfsverein  schools  at  once  spread  to  the  Haifa  Poly- 
technic, whose  building  was  on  the  point  of  completion. 
At  a  meeting  of  the  governors,  at  which  the  Germans 
were  in  a  majority,  it  was  resolved  that  the  Polytechnic 
should  have  no  official  language,  but  that  in  its  classes, 
as  well  as  in  those  of  the  secondary  school  which  was  to 
be  attached  to  it,  the  sciences  were  to  be  taught  in 
German.  As  a  consequence  the  Zionist  members  of  the 
governing   body   immediately   resigned.     The    wave    of 


The  New  Education  247 

indignation  that  spread  through  the  Jewries  of  the 
Continent  reached  the  United  States  and  influenced  the 
American  members  of  the  governing  body  to  intervene. 
A  new  arrangement  was  made  whereby  some  of  the 
excluded  subjects  were  to  be  taught  in  Hebrew  immedi- 
ately and  the  others  after  the  lapse  of  four  years.  This 
delay  was  to  give  the  professors  who  had  already  been 
chosen  time  to  make  themselves  masters  of  modern 
Hebrew.  In  this  position  the  matter  stood  when  the 
clouds  of  war  descended  in  the  summer  of  1914. 

The  leaders  of  the  Hebrew  movement  in  Palestine 
allow  no  lethargy  or  indolence  to  envelop  them.  They 
are  always  looking  ahead  and  make  plans  for  the  next 
step  but  one,  even  before  the  next  is  taken.  Beyond 
the  Polytechnic  was  the  Hebrew  University,  but  the 
Polytechnic  did  not  have  to  get  to  work  before  plans 
were  laid  for  the  establishment  of  such  a  University  at 
Jerusalem.  The  University  project  was  approved  by 
the  eleventh  Zionist  Congress,  where  it  was  pressed  by 
Dr.  C.  Weizmann,  of  Manchester,  as  the  spokesman  of  its 
advocates.  It  gained  adherents  in  quarters  where  they 
might  least  have  been  expected.  Although  launched 
under  Zionist  auspices,  it  drew  enthusiastic  supporters 
from  the  ranks  of  confirmed  opponents  of  the  aims  of 
the  Zionist  Movement.  Baron  Edmund  de  Rothschild, 
of  Paris,  as  is  not  surprising,  promised  valuable  assist- 
ance towards  the  realization  of  the  scheme.  In  England 
Sir  Philip  Magnus,  always  a  consistent  opponent  of 
Zionism,  addressed  public  meetings  in  its  support.  In 
Germany  it  gained  the  assistance  of  Paul  Ehrlich,  the 
greatest  pathologist  of  his  generation.  In  the  meanwhile 
funds  were  being  obtained  for  the  establishment  and 
endowment  of  a  Hebrew  University  which  should  be 


248  Palestine 

worthy  of  the  genius  of  the  Jewish  people.  A  suitable 
site  was  purchased  on  the  Mount  of  Olives.  And  then 
the  war  intervened. 

Outside  of  the  direct  line  from  the  kindergarten  to 
the  University  there  are  other  educational  institutions 
in  Palestine  of  the  new  type.  The  girls'  farm  and  lace- 
making  schools  of  the  Union  of  Jewish  Women,  have 
already  been  mentioned.  Conservatories  of  music  have 
been  established  at  Jaffa  and  Jerusalem.  The  Hebrew 
Art  School,  however,  which  has  acquired  the  widest  repu- 
tation, in  both  Jewish  and  non-Jewish  circles  in  Europe 
and  America,  is  the  Bezalel  School  of  Arts  and  Crafts  in 
Jerusalem,  which  is  maintained  by  the  Bezalel,  a  German 
society  for  the  promotion  of  artistic  crafts  and  domestic 
industry  in  Palestine  and  neighbouring  countries. 
Under  the  direction  of  Professor  Boris  Schatz,  a  distin- 
guished Bulgarian  Jewish  sculptor,  a  school  of  a  dis- 
tinctively Jewish  art,  not  an  imitation  of  European 
schools,  has  grown  up.  The  aim  of  the  Bezalel  is,  how- 
ever, not  merely  to  create  a  school  of  fine  art.  The  prin- 
cipal object  is  to  train  its  pupils  in  a  handicraft  or  pro- 
fession which  will  enable  them  to  earn  their  living.  The 
pupils  get  the  whole  of  their  education  inside  the  school. 
In  addition  to  the  ordinary  subjects  they  are  taught 
drawing,  painting,  and  modelling,  and  as  they  advance 
they  are  instructed  in  the  principles  of  decorative  art. 

The  Bezalel  is  not  only  a  school :  it  is  also  a  manufac- 
turing centre.  Among  the  subjects  which  it  teaches  are 
carpet-weaving,  filigree  work,  wood-carving,  inlaid  work, 
lace-making,  copper-work,  lithography,  metal-chasing, 
and  ivory-carving.  The  products  of  its  workshops  are 
sold  not  only  in  Palestine.  By  a  series  of  exhibitions 
in  most  of  the  principal  cities  of  Europe  and  the  United 


The  New  Education  249 

States,  they  have  been  brought  under  the  notice  of  a 
wide  public,  and  leading  firms  in  several  of  the  Western 
capitals  act  as  the  agents  of  the  Bezalel.  Connoisseurs 
say  that  the  Bezalel  carpets  are  equal  to  the  famous  prod- 
ucts of  Turkey  and  Persia.  Yet  the  Bezalel  School  is 
only  ten  years  old,  and  when  Professor  Schatz  first  en- 
tered on  his  work  there  his  pupils  had  not  even  attempted 
to  draw.  In  the  year  1913,  despite  the  depression  caused 
by  the  wars  through  which  Turkey  had  just  passed,  the 
income  from  all  sources  amounted  to  a  quarter  of  a  mil- 
lion francs,  more  than  half  of  which  was  expended  in 
wages.  There  were  in  that  year  500  pupils  and  workers 
in  regular  attendance.  A  branch  of  the  Bezalel  has  been 
established  in  the  colony  of  Ben  Shamen,  where  a  group 
of  Yemenites  has  been  provided  with  cottages  and  plots 
of  land  as  well  as  a  workshop.  There  they  engage  in 
carpet-weaving  and  filigree  work,  supplemented  by  mar- 
ket-gardening and  poultry-rearing.  Other  extensions 
were  in  prospect,  and  if  misfortune  had  not  overtaken 
Palestine  in  common  with  the  greater  part  of  civilization, 
it  is  probable  that  by  now  Bezalel  workshops  would  have 
been  open  at  Safed,  Tiberias,  and  Hebron,  to  the  great 
benefit  of  the  local  populations. 

Professor  Schatz  is  an  enthusiast  who  has  devoted  his 
life  to  the  service  of  his  enthusiasm.  His  ideal  he  has 
himself  described  in  these  words :  ' '  The  erst  barren  hills 
are  covered  again  with  plantations,  the  valleys  are  decked 
again  with  flowers;  a  new  and  healthy  life  is  again 
awakening,  a  new  life  without  any  smoky  chimneys  above 
and  grimy  labourers  below.  The  labourer  is  free — he 
creates  only  things  in  which  his  intelligence  and  indi- 
vidual taste  can  find  expression,  things  which  assume  ever 
new  and  more  beautiful  forms.    The  women  are  famous 


250  Palestine 

for  the  carpets,  lace,  and  embroideries  which  they  make. 
The  Palestinian  faience,  majolica,  glass,  carvings,  and 
the  beautiful  copper  and  silver  work,  enjoy  a  renown 
throughout  the  world.  They  have  a  specifically  Jewish 
Palestinian  style,  which  reflects  the  beauty  of  the  Biblical 
age  and  the  fantasy  of  the  Orient.  Our  workman  in 
Palestine  has  become  an  ideal  for  his  comrade  in  civilized 
Europe.  He  knows  nothing  of  barrack-like  dwellings, 
without  light  or  air,  in  which  the  European  workmen 
with  their  families  pine  away.  He  has  his  bright  cot- 
tage in  a  green  garden,  and  his  secure  employment  in  the 
co-operative  society  to  which  he  belongs."  This  is  the 
end  towards  which  the  gifted  Principal  of  the  Bezalel 
School  is  striving. 

In  all  these  institutions  Hebrew  is  the  only  language 
in  use. 

The  foregoing  catalogue,  although  a  long  one,  does 
not  exhaust  the  list  of  Jewish  educational  institutions  at 
work  in  Palestine.  In  fact,  so  numerous,  and  in  many 
cases  so  self-contained,  are  they  that  no  list  could  exhaust 
them.  There  are,  however,  yet  a  few  others  that  ought 
not  to  pass  without  mention.  At  Jerusalem  the  German- 
Dutch  Chalukah  Administration  has  opened  a  manual 
school,  the  Darche  Chayim,  to  train  the  boys  who  leave 
the  orthodox  Rabbinical  schools  in  a  handicraft,  and  at 
the  same  time  to  continue  their  religious  studies.  In 
1910  a  German  committee  was  formed  for  the  founding  of 
popular  schools  and  domestic  economy  schools  in  Pales- 
tine. Its  object  is  to  train  Jewish  girls  to  fulfil  the  role 
of  farmers'  wives  in  the  colonies.  The  first  school  was 
opened  at  Petach  Tikvah,  where  the  subjects  of  instruc- 
tion are  gardening,  farming,  Hebrew  as  a  living  language, 


The  New  Education  251 

Arabic,  Jewish  ethics  and  history,  gymnastics,  and 
domestic  economy  and  hygiene. 

Formal  education  in  the  best  of  circumstances  is  only 
a  means,  and  not  the  final  means.  This  is  clearly  rec- 
ognized by  those  by  whom  the  regeneration  of  Palestine 
is  being  directed.  The  provision  of  books  was  early 
taken  into  consideration.  There  are  very  few  settlements 
of  Jews  in  Palestine  or  elsewhere  that  have  not  their 
collections  of  books  for  general  use.  In  the  colonies, 
therefore,  a  library  almost  invariably  ranks  among  the 
communal  institutions.  In  Jerusalem  and  the  other 
towns  also  the  many  learned  and  religious  institutions 
all  have  libraries,  but  in  most  cases  these  are  limited 
to  Talmudical  and  cognate  literature.  A  library  of  a 
different  character  is  the  Central  Library  at  Jerusalem, 
founded  in  1892  by  Dr.  Joseph  Chasanovitz,  of  Bieli- 
stock,  in  commemoration  of  the  four-hundredth  anniver- 
sary of  the  arrival  in  Palestine  of  the  refugees  from 
Spain.  It  contains  about  35,000  volumes,  somewhat  more 
than  half  of  which  are  in  Hebrew.  In  addition  to  being 
a  library,  this  institution  is  an  intellectual  centre  for  the 
new  population  of  the  capital.  Another  Jerusalem  insti- 
tution of  the  same  character  is  the  People's  Institute, 
which  was  opened  in  1908.  The  Workmen's  Club  has 
also  a  library  and  reading-room.  The  Shaare  Zion  at 
Jaffa,  founded  in  1891  by  the  Choveve  Zion  in  memory 
of  Levanda,  is  of  the  same  character  as  the  National 
Library  of  Jerusalem;  and  at  Jaffa  also  the  Workmen's 
Club  contains  a  library,  reading-room,  and  lecture  hall. 

Among  the  other  Jewish  learned  and  scientific  societies 
and  institutions  in  Palestine  are  the  Society  for  the 
Exploration  of  Palestine  (a  German  society  founded  in 


252  Palestine 

1910) ;  the  Jewish  Medical  Society  of  Jaffa  for  the  discus- 
sion of  medical  questions,  for  research,  and  for  hygienic 
improvements,  which  publishes  quarterly  transactions  in 
Hebrew;  the  Society  of  Jewish  Doctors  and  Scientists 
for  Sanitary  Improvements  in  Palestine  (also  a  German 
institution)  ;  and  the  Society  of  Lovers  of  the  Hebrew 
Drama,  of  Jaffa,  established  in  1906  to  create  a  Hebrew 
drama  in  Palestine,  which  proposes  to  build  a  national 
theatre.  By  means  of  this  society  and  through  private 
endeavours,  a  Hebrew  drama  is  gradually  coming  into 
existence.  A  neo-Hebrew  literature  also  is  being  pro- 
duced in  the  new  Palestinian  conditions,  the  most  im- 
portant production  of  which  is  the  Millon,  the  monu- 
mental lexicon  of  the  Hebrew  language,  ancient,  mediae- 
val, and  modern,  on  which  Mr.  Elieser  Ben-Jehuda,  of 
Jerusalem,  has  been  engaged  for  several  years. 

This  educational  and  literary  activity  has  given  rise 
to  two  or  three  Hebrew  publishing  firms,  which  devote 
most  of  their  attention  to  educational  works.  The 
granting  of  a  Constitution  to  Turkey  resulted  immedi- 
ately in  great  activity  in  Hebrew  journalistic  circles  in 
Palestine.  Previously  there  had  been  two  Hebrew  peri- 
odicals, but  neither  reached  the  European  standard. 
There  are  now  several  daily  and  weekly  papers  as  well 
as  four  monthly  periodicals,  one  for  children,  all  in 
Hebrew. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

THE  REHABILITATION   OF  HEBREW 

The  story  of  the  rebirth  of  the  Jewish  people  and  of  the 
opening  stages  of  its  return  to  its  ancestral  land  which 
has  been  told  in  the  preceding  pages  would  not  be  com- 
plete without  some  mention  of  the  restoration  of  Hebrew, 
the  ancient  language  of  the  Jews,  to  its  due  place  as  a 
living  language.  Not  that  there  is  any  justification  for 
the  widespread  belief  that  Hebrew  is  or  ever  was  a  dead 
language.  From  the  day  on  which  it  ceased  to  be  the 
common  everyday  language  of  the  Jews,  in  consequence 
of  their  dispersion  among  the  nations  and  the  practically 
compulsory  acquisition  and  use  of  the  languages  of  the 
lands  in  which  they  dwelt,  until  the  present  day,  Hebrew 
has  never  ceased  to  be  the  language  of  Judaism  and  of 
Jewish  learning.  It  has  not  only  been  the  language  of 
prayer  and  as  such  familiar  in  some  degree  to  every  Jew ; 
it  has  been  the  ready  medium  of  communication  between 
Jewish  scholars  in  all  lands,  who  in  their  homes  and 
their  everyday  life  spoke  the  local  vernacular.  It  is  the 
language  in  which  until  a  century  ago  almost  the  whole 
of  Jewish  literature  was  written,  and  in  a  few  isolated 
communities  in  the  East  it  has  even  remained  through- 
out the  centuries  of  exile  a  living  language  of  everyday 
intercourse. 

Nevertheless,  Hebrew  cannot  be  said  to  be  the  Jewish 
language.     Until  a  generation  ago  it  had  hardly  secured 

253 


254  Palestine 

a  claim,  so  far  as  the  common  people  are  concerned,  to 
be  recognized  as  a  Jewish  language  except  for  special 
purposes.  The  Jewish  languages,  the  languages  peculiar 
to,  current  among,  and  used  every  day  by,  the  Jews  of 
the  Dispersion  are  Judaeo-German,  or  Jiidisch;  Judaeo- 
Spanish,  or  Espagnol  or  Ladino;  and  Judaao-Persian :  the 
first  a  corruption  of  the  old  German  of  the  Rhinelands 
which  the  survivors  of  the  widespread  massacres  by  the 
Crusaders  brought  with  them  when  they  fled  to  Poland ; 
the  second  closely  akin  to  the  old  Castilian  brought  by 
the  fugitives  from  Spain  to  the  Moslem  lands  in  the  fif- 
teenth century;  the  third  the  language  of  the  Jews  of 
Persia.  It  is  only  in  the  course  of  the  past  generation 
that  Hebrew  has  taken  its  place  among  these  as  the  lan- 
guage of  everyday  intercourse  by  any  considerable  num- 
ber of  Jews.  In  the  future,  unless  the  justifiable  an- 
ticipations of  those  who  are  qualified  to  judge  are  belied, 
it  will  be  the  Jewish  language,  for,  although  it  has  a 
much  smaller  circle  than  any  one  of  the  other  three,  it  is 
the  only  language  of  the  four  that  is  advancing.  The 
others  are  losing  adherents  every  day. 

It  is  not  much  more  than  a  century  since  the  first 
attempts  were  made  to  popularize  Hebrew  among  the 
Jews.  It  was  then  a  part  of  the  Mendelssohnian  move- 
ment to  introduce  European  culture  among  the  Jews  of 
Germany  who  were  still  prisoners  in  their  Judengassen. 
The  object  of  Moses  Mendelssohn  and  his  school  was  to 
Germanize  the  Jews  and  at  the  same  time  to  give  them 
German  as  their  mother-tongue.  Hebrew  was  used  as 
a  means  to  this  end,  as  an  opportunity  for  bringing 
modern  thought  and  modern  views  to  the  Jews  of  the 
eastern  provinces.  The  Hebrew  writings  of  the  Meas- 
sefim,  as  this  school  of  writers  came  to  be  called,  were,  as 


Rehabilitation  of  Hebrew  255 

a  rule,  intended  only  to  be  ephemeral,  to  be  read  only 
until  their  readers  were  able  to  read  German.  Their  in- 
fluence on  the  development  of  Hebrew  and  its  approach- 
ing rebirth  was  consequently  insignificant.  The  most 
prominent  of  the  Meassefim  was  Naphtali  Hartwig 
Wessely,  who  wrote  essays,  poems,  and  grammatical 
works. 

The  next  movement  in  the  quickening  of  Hebrew 
came  from  the  other  side  of  the  Russo-German  frontier, 
and  from  Galicia.  The  Maskilim,  the  promoters  of  the 
Haskalah,  or  "Enlightenment,"  had  objects  very  similar 
to  those  of  the  Meassefim.  Theirs  were  also  to  introduce 
Western  culture  into  the  confines  of  the  ghetto.  The  re- 
sults in  Russia  and  Galicia  were,  however,  very  different 
from  those  in  Germany.  In  the  first  place,  the  reformers 
met  with  an  adamant  opposition  from  the  upholders  of 
rigid  orthodoxy  in  Jewry.  To  them  all  reform  or  move- 
ment was  anathema.  Above  all,  to  use  Hebrew,  the 
sacred  tongue,  for  secular  purposes  was  blasphemy. 
This  intense  opposition  to  the  secularization  and  vul- 
garization of  Hebrew  was  paralleled  later  by  the  opposi- 
tion which  came  from  the  same  quarters  to  practical 
Zionism,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  attempting  to  force 
the  hands  of  Providence,  to  anticipate  the  Millennium. 
The  other  point  of  difference  between  the  two  movements 
was  that  whether  the  Haskalah  succeeded  in  its  object 
or  not,  the  walls  of  the  Russian  ghetto  would  remain 
standing  and  the  Jew  would  not  be  allowed  to  leave  it. 
Germany  was  ready  to  welcome  the  Jew  once  he  had  be- 
come occidentalized :  Russia  was  not. 

The  Haskalah  movement  lasted  much  longer  than  the 
Meassefim.  In  a  sense  it  still  survives,  although  the 
massacres  of  the  early  eighties  of  last  century  turned  it 


256  Palestine 

in  a  new  direction  and  ultimately  merged  it  in  the  Zion- 
ist Movement.  Of  the  writers  whom  the  Haskalah  move- 
ment produced,  the  most  prominent  were  Isaac  Erter, 
the  satirist ;  Solomon  Judah  Rapoport,  one  of  the  found- 
ers of  modern  Jewish  historical  scholarship;  Nachman 
Krochmal,  a  pioneer  of  modern  Jewish  philosophy ;  Meir 
Letteris,  the  poet,  who  translated  "Faust"  into  Hebrew; 
Kalman  Schulman,  who  translated  Eugene  Sue  into 
Hebrew,  and  thus  introduced  Western  romanticism  to 
the  Jewish  masses;  Abraham  Mapu,  who  wrote  original 
novels  in  Hebrew ;  and  Judah  Leon  Gordon,  the  poet  and 
novelist,  the  greatest  of  them  all. 

A  decade  before  the  death  of  Gordon  the  first  phase 
of  the  Haskalah  movement  ended.  The  period  of  ruth- 
less persecution  that  opened  in  Russia  with  the  accession 
of  the  Czar  Alexander  III.,  persecution  of  the  mind  as 
well  as  of  the  body  and  the  soul,  brought  home  to  most  of 
the  leaders  of  "Enlightenment"  the  hopelessness  of  the 
Jewish  future  in  Russia.  In  the  despair  of  Russia,  the 
hope  of  Zion  was  born,  or  rather  reinvigorated.  The 
leaders  of  the  old  movement  became  the  leaders  of  the 
new.  Henceforth  the  Haskalah  had  a  new  meaning.  It 
meant  not  only  the  enlightenment  of  the  Jewish  mind, 
but  also  the  redemption  of  the  Jewish  people.  The 
principal  writers  of  the  Haskalah  since  1880  have  already 
been  mentioned  among  the  leaders  of  the  Choveve  Zion. 
Smolenskin  was  a  political  philosopher  and  a  novelist; 
Lilienblum  wrote  on  a  variety  of  subjects,  but  always 
with  Palestine  before  him.  Of  them  all,  the  greatest  in 
his  influence  both  on  Jewish  thought  and  on  the  develop- 
ment of  modern  Hebrew,  is  Achad  Ha 'Am,  a  little  later 
than  the  others  in  time,  who  is  still  in  the  plenitude 
of  his  powers,  and  from  London,  where  he  took  up  his 


Rehabilitation  of  Hebrew  257 

residence  a  few  years  ago,  exercises  a  silent  but  deep 
influence  over  modern  Jewish  thought  in  all  the  countries 
of  the  world. 

The  present  generation  has  produced  a  considerable 
harvest  of  Hebrew  writers,  with  very  few  exceptions 
Russian  or  Galician  in  origin.  Mr.  Nahurn  Sokolow  is 
foremost  among  these  contemporary  men  of  letters. 
Mr.  Elieser  Ben-Jehuda  has,  by  his  lexicographical  work, 
made  Jerusalem  once  again  a  centre  of  Jewish  scholar- 
ship. Mr.  David  Yellin,  also  of  Jerusalem,  is  a  master 
of  Hebrew  style.  Mr.  A.  L.  Ben-Avigdor  has,  by  means 
of  his  publication  societies,  enabled  Hebrew  writers  to 
reach  their  public.  Constantin  Shapiro,  Menahem  Dol- 
itzki,  and  Mordecai  Zebi  Manne,  are  poets,  as  was  also 
Naphtali  Herz  Imber,  the  national  poet  of  the  new  Pales- 
tine. S.  Tchernichovski  is  also  a  poet;  but  the  greatest 
of  them  all,  a  sweet  singer  in  Israel,  is  Hayyim  Bialik, 
"a  Hebrew  with  an  Hellenic  soul."  Solomon  Jacob 
Abramowitsch  ("the  Jewish  Cervantes"),  Isaac  Lob 
Perez,  Reuben  Brainin,  David  Frischmann,  and  Ben- 
Avigdor  are  favourite  novelists.  Brainin  is  also  the  his- 
torian of  modern  Hebrew  literature,  and  Frischmann  a 
translator  of  scientific  books.  In  other  branches  of  liter- 
ature, also,  Hebrew  writers  are  to  be  found,  and  Hebrew 
by  its  breadth  as  well  as  by  its  depth  has  now,  although 
only  a  few  decades  old,  secured  its  position  among  con- 
temporary literary  languages. 

The  new  Hebrew  movement  has  gradually  come  almost 
to  dominate  Jewish  nationalism.  It  supplies  the  essen- 
tial without  which  the  reconstitution  of  the  Jewish  na- 
tionality would  be  impossible,  for  who  can  conceive  of  a 
people  without  a  common  language?  The  sympathetic 
interest  in  the  Hebrew  revival  has  spread  far  outside  of 


258  Palestine 

the  formal  ranks  of  the  Zionists;  but  in  the  larger  sense 
all  these  Hebrew  enthusiasts,  no  matter  how  moderate 
may  be  their  enthusiasm,  are  Zionists,  although  they  may 
be  quite  unconscious  of  it.  Classes  for  the  study  of 
Hebrew  as  a  living  language,  Hebrew  lecture  and  debat- 
ing societies,  Hebrew  periodicals,  have  sprung  up  in 
scores  of  centres  of  Western  Jewry.  At  the  eighth  Con- 
gress the  Zionist  Organization  made  Hebrew  its  official 
language.  At  the  time  this  was  merely  a  compliment, 
for  to  the  great  majority  of  the  delegates  to  that  Con- 
gress an  address  in  that  language  would  have  been 
unintelligible.  The  decision,  however,  did  not  remain 
merely  a  compliment.  At  the  last  Congress  the  discus- 
sion on  one  motion — that  advocating  the  establishment 
of  a  Hebrew  University — was  conducted  entirely  in 
Hebrew,  and  speeches  in  that  language  were  also  inter- 
spersed throughout  the  proceedings.  Nevertheless,  out- 
side of  Palestine  the  revival  of  Hebrew  is  necessarily 
merely  an  academic  movement.  In  everyday  life,  in  the 
midst  of  a  population  which  must  necessarily  in  all  cir- 
cumstances be  non-Hebraic,  it  is  impossible  for  it  to  exist 
unsupported,  to  grow  of  its  own  accord.  In  the  new 
Palestine,  however,  Hebrew  has  its  opportunity. 

Palestine  is  a  land  of  all  peoples  and  of  all  tongues. 
The  Jews  hailing  from  twenty  countries  have  brought 
twenty  languages  with  them.  In  the  consequent  babel 
the  Jew  from  one  country  was  unable  to  understand  his 
co-religionist  from  another.  In  language  the  Jew  from 
Roumania  and  the  Jew  from  Persia  were  as  far  removed 
as  their  respective  countries.  If  the  Jews  of  the  Holy 
Land  were  ever  to  come  into  contact  with  one  another,  to 
coalesce,  to  form  again  one  people,  a  common  language 
was  a  necessity.     Arabic  and  Hebrew  were  the  only  Ian- 


Rehabilitation  of  Hebrew  259 

guages  possible  for  this  purpose,  and  of  these  two  Hebrew 
had  the  undoubted  advantage.  Although  a  living  lan- 
guage to  but  a  very  few  of  the  Jews  of  Palestine,  it  was 
a  language  with  which  all  of  them  had  a  considerable 
acquaintance.  By  sentiment  and  by  history,  the  people, 
the  land,  and  the  language  all  belonged  to  one  another. 
Hebrew  and  Palestine  are  almost  two  forms  of  the  one  idea. 
For  the  Jews  of  Palestine  only  one  language  was  pos- 
sible. In  the  Russian  Pale  of  Settlement  Jiidisch  might 
be  the  language  of  the  Jews ;  in  the  Balkans,  Ladino;  in 
Paris,  French ;  in  London  or  New  York,  English ;  but  in 
Jerusalem  and  the  Holy  Land,  Hebrew  only.  All  lan- 
guages are  still  spoken  there,  but  they  are  the  languages 
of  the  past — dying  languages  so  far  as  Palestine  is  con- 
cerned. The  new  generation,  the  children,  the  youths 
and  maidens,  speak  Hebrew  as  their  mother-tongue,  the 
language  which  has  been  a  part  of  life  since  the  kinder- 
garten age.  The  other  languages  they  speak  are  foreign 
to  them.  The  children  play  in  Hebrew  and  learn  in 
Hebrew.  The  young  men  and  girls  make  love  in  Hebrew. 
In  the  new  settlements  all  conduct  their  business,  per- 
form their  ordinary  work,  and  enjoy  the  common  pleas- 
ures of  life,  in  Hebrew.  The  new  Jews  of  Palestine  think 
and  dream  in  Hebrew:  Hebrew  is  their  language,  is  a 
part  of  themselves. 

Although  it  is  only  in  the  course  of  the  present  genera- 
tion that  Hebrew  has  come  to  be  spoken  at  all  generally 
in  Palestine,  there  have  for  generations  been  Jews  in  the 
country  to  whom  it  has  been  a  living  tongue.  James 
Finn,  the  British  Consul  in  Jerusalem  and  protector  of 
the  Jews  of  Palestine,  who  himself  spoke  Hebrew,  men- 
tioned in  his  diary  that  that  language  was  sometimes 
used  in  his  office  for  the  transaction  of  business  with 


260  Palestine 

Jews.  As  an  instance  of  the  usefulness  of  the  language 
as  a  means  of  communication  between  Jews  from  differ- 
ent countries,  he  also  mentioned  that  a  Jew  from  Cabul 
met  a  co-religionist  from  California  in  his  office  in  Jeru- 
salem, and  they  were  able  to  converse  with  one  another  by- 
means  of  Hebrew.  In  his  day  Hebrew  was  certainly 
used  in  Palestine  as  a  conversational  language.  Evi- 
dence to  the  same  effect  is  to  be  found  in  the  diaries  of 
Sir  Moses  Montefiore.  The  Choveve  Zion  encouraged  the 
spread  of  Hebrew  in  Palestine  which  had  commenced 
under  their  regime.  As  the  Palestine  movement  grew,  so 
the  impetus  towards  Hebrew  became  stronger.  The 
growth  of  Hebrew  in  the  schools  has  already  been 
sketched. 

The  Hebrew  movement  in  Palestine  was  indigenous, 
not  exotic.  The  scholar  Ben-Jehuda  was  the  first  of  the 
modern  Jews  to  introduce  it  into  his  household.  From 
private  houses  it  soon  passed  to  meetings  of  societies,  in 
particular  those  of  the  B'nei  B'rith  Order.  Then  it 
passed  to  the  schools,  conquering  one  after  the  other, 
until  those  of  the  Alliance,  alone  stand  out,  and  they  are 
not  unaffected.  The  children  brought  the  language 
home  from  the  schools,  and  taught  it  to  their  parents, 
and  now  the  mothers  and  the  fathers  speak  it  as  their 
own  tongue.  So  strong  has  the  language  become  in 
Palestine  that,  as  has  already  been  related,  it  was  able  to 
meet  German  in  battle  and  to  vanquish  it.  In  the  course 
of  a  few  years  Hebrew  has  become  one  of  the  languages 
of  Palestine.  If  the  present  course  continues,  without 
either  deterrent  or  special  incentive,  the  next  generation 
will  see  the  innumerable  languages  of  Palestine  reduced 
for  practical  purposes  to  two — Hebrew  and  Arabic. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

THE  ECONOMIC  PRESENT   AND  FUTURE 

The  narrative  in  the  foregoing  pages  marks  the  point 
which  has  been  reached  in  the  regeneration  of  Palestine, 
a  region  which  has  lain  waste  for  centuries,  and  in  the 
reoccupation  by  the  Jews  of  the  land  which  belonged  to 
their  ancestors.  It  must  not  be  forgotten,  however,  that 
the  regeneration  is  still  of  the  nature  of  an  experiment. 
It  has  occupied  but  a  period  of  a  generation,  a  moment 
in  the  history  of  a  country.  The  revival  cannot  be  said 
to  have  been  spontaneous,  for  it  has  been  in  almost  every 
detail  initiated  from  without.  The  older  Jewish  popula- 
tion of  Palestine  would  never  of  itself  have  made  any 
effort  towards  the  rehabilitation  of  the  land,  nor  was  there 
any  other  class  in  the  population,  until  the  new  Jewish 
immigration  commenced — with  the  exception,  perhaps, 
of  the  few  German  colonists  at  Haifa  and  Jaffa — that 
gave  any  promise  for  the  future.  Without  the  Jewish 
immigrants  Palestine  would  have  remained  in  the  condi- 
tion in  which  it  had  been  for  centuries — that  of  a  desert. 
It  is  in  this  state  that  Palestine  is  still  generally  be- 
lieved to  be  by  those  who  have  some  slight  interest  in  the 
land,  but  have  never  seen  it,  or  if  they  have,  have  done 
so  only  from  the  railways  and  the  high  roads.  Their 
information  is  based  on  writers  who  knew  the  land  be- 
fore the  beginning  of  the  new  era,  or  who  base  their  writ- 
ings on  the  reports  of  those  who  visited  it  before  the  last 

261 


262  Palestine 

decade  of  the  nineteenth  century.  To  them  Palestine  is 
a  land  which  may  once  have  been  fruitful,  but  is  now  an 
irreclaimable  desert,  inhabited  by  beggars  and  paupers. 
They  class  it  almost  with  Arabia,  which  to  them  also  is 
a  land  of  rock  and  of  sand.  It  is  to  them  a  region  ac- 
cursed, for  which  there  is  no  hope,  except,  perhaps,  at 
the  Millennium.  This  view  is  still  very  widely  held. 
Such  is  the  force  of  prejudice,  of  the  acceptance  of 
statements  on  trust,  of  the  neglect  to  keep  one's  knowl- 
edge up  to  date. 

If  a  desert  is  only  a  deserted  land,  this  description 
certainly  to  a  large  extent  applies  to  Palestine.  The 
population  is  sparse,  about  two  families  to  a  square  mile. 
Of  this  population  a  large  portion  is  parasitic ;  and  of  the 
remainder,  most  have  very  few  needs  and  use  primitive 
methods  with  which  to  satisfy  them.  As  a  consequence, 
to  support  the  hand-to-mouth  existence  of  the  inhabitants 
not  a  relatively  great  amount  of  industry  is  needed,  and 
a  large  amount  of  land  is  allowed  to  lie  idle.  In  the  past 
even  worse  consequences  have  ensued.  Not  only  has  the 
land  been  allowed  to  lie  fallow  for  generations  and  gen- 
erations :  no  effort  has  been  made  to  preserve  its  fertility, 
its  usefulness  for  man.  In  one  direction  the  sand  has 
been  allowed  to  encroach  upon  it  unchecked,  in  another 
the  water.  Regions  have  been  denuded  of  their  trees 
without  any  consideration  for  the  future,  and  a  special 
tax  has  even  been  enforced  on  those  progressive  inhabi- 
tants who  wished  to  plant  new  trees.  The  land  has  been 
artificially  deprived  of  the  best  of  its  inhabitants,  who 
have  been  at  all  times  insufficient  in  number  for  its 
needs.  Successive  wars  have  drained  the  country  of  its 
young  men,  so  that  land  has  passed  out  of  cultivation; 
families  have  become  impoverished  and  powerful  tribes 


Packing  Oranges  for  Export 


Loading  Wine  at  Jaffa 


Economic  Present  and  Future         263 

i 
have  sunk  almost  to  insignificance.  Even  philanthropic 
agencies  such  as  the  Alliance  Israelite  have  encouraged 
the  emigration  of  the  pupils  of  their  schools,  and  thus 
the  benefits  conferred  on  the  people  have  been  to  a  large 
extent  diminished.  Such  are  the  handicaps  against 
which  Palestine  has  had  to  strive  even  within  the  present 
generation.  In  the  earlier  ones  the  difficulties  were  still 
greater. 

The  truth  is  that  Palestine  is  not,  and  never  has  been, 
a  desert,  as  understood  in  the  colloquial  sense,  but  a  land 
laid  waste.  If  Palestine  has  for  centuries  been  a  land  of 
rocks,  of  wilderness,  of  starvation,  and  of  wretchedness, 
it  has  not  been  made  so  by  the  hand  of  God,  but  by  the 
hand  of  man.  The  harm  that  man  has  done  can  and 
must  be  remedied  by  man.  The  purpose  of  this  volume 
is  to  show  how  far  man  has  gone  to  make  good  the  evils 
which  man  has  wrought  in  Palestine;  and,  if  only  on 
archaeological  grounds,  the  reader  will  rejoice  to  learn 
that  the  descendants  of  those  who  possessed  the  land  in 
its  period  of  greatest  glory  have  been  selected  to  per- 
form the  work  of  regeneration. 

This  work  of  regeneration  is  at  its  very  beginning. 
To  estimate  its  prospects  of  success  we  must  ascertain 
what  elements  of  rehabilitation  the  land  still  possesses; 
whether  the  injuries  inflicted  by  twenty  conquests,  and 
almost  twenty  centuries  of  desolation,  are  permanent  or 
merely  superficial  and  capable  of  removal ;  whether  it  is 
possible  for  Palestine  to  become  once  again,  as  of  yore, 
a  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey,  a  region  coveted, 
on  account  of  its  fertility,  by  all  the  empires  of  the 
world,  or  whether  the  damage  is  past  remedy. 

The  first  matter  for  consideration  is  the  agricultural 
possibilities,  for  on  these  alone  does  a  country  really 


264  Palestine 

depend.  If  the  land  can  produce  sufficient  food  to  sup- 
port its  inhabitants,  the  latter,  come  what  may,  are 
secure.  All  other  industries — commerce,  mining,  manu- 
factures— are  less  vital.  A  State  can  exist  without 
them,  but  without  agriculture  death  is  inevitable.  In 
the  national  economy  agriculture  occupies  the  position 
of  bread  in  domestic  economy.  It  is  the  very  basis  of 
life.  In  the  past — in  Biblical,  in  Roman,  and  in  later 
times — the  abundance  of  the  productions  of  Palestine 
was  proverbial.  But  we  are  concerned  with  the  present. 
And  there  is  plenty  of  evidence  that  the  land  is  still  as 
it  was.  The  deterioration  is  due  to  no  more  than  the 
neglect  from  which  it  has  suffered  for  centuries,  and 
human  care  can  remove  the  effects  of  human  neglect. 
Colonel  Claude  Conder,  than  whom  no  one  knew  Pales- 
tine better,  was  always  impressing  on  his  hearers  and 
readers  that  Palestine  was  not  desolate ;  that  the  forests 
of  the  land  had  not  been  destroyed,  as  is  generally  sup- 
posed by  those  who  have  never  been  there;  that  the 
seasons  rotate  still  as  in  Bible  times;  that  the  innumer- 
able springs  and  streams  mentioned  in  the  Bible  still 
flow;  that  the  rainfall  is  quite  sufficient  if  only  it  were 
stored — and  the  ancient  cisterns  in  which  it  was  formerly 
stored  can  easily  be  repaired ;  and  that  the  climate  could 
easily  be  improved  by  drainage  and  the  planting  of 
trees.  Colonel  Conder  knew  Palestine  before  the  new 
immigration  had  commenced :  he  died  before  it  had  been 
long  in  motion.  If  he  had  been  living  to-day  he  would 
have  been  glad  to  recognize  how  the  lines  of  progress 
that  he  had  indicated  were  being  followed.  The  excess 
of  water  in  the  winter  is  being  retained  for  use  in  the 
summer;  the  land  is  being  drained  and  the  climate  im- 
proved by  means  of  afforestation.     For  the  regeneration 


Economic  Present  and  Future         265 

of  the  land,  however,  these  improvements  must  be  con- 
ducted on  a  much  larger  scale. 

Another  authority  who  knew  the  country  well,  the 
Rev.  G.  E.  Post,  writing  still  later,  expressed  the  opinion 
that  the  climate  of  Palestine  was  adapted  to  the  exist- 
ence of  a  large  population.  "Those  plants  which  re- 
quire moisture,"  he  wrote,  "find  it.  Those  which 
flourish  best  without  it  are  also  suited.  Hence  almost 
every  foot  of  land  not  actually  rock,  produces  something 
directly  or  indirectly  useful  to  man,  and  even  the  clefts 
of  the  rocks  furnish  pasture  of  no  little  value  to  sheep 
and  goats.  .  .  .  Given  a  carefully  prepared  soil  and  suf- 
ficient water,  there  seems  no  limit  to  the  agricultural 
possibilities  of  this  land  of  fertilizing  sunshine." 

The  agricultural  possibilities  of  Palestine  are,  in  fact, 
exceptional.  Inland  from  the  coast,  from  south  to  north 
runs  a  series  of  plains,  every  one  with  better  capacity  for 
production  than  its  predecessor.  That  around  Gaza 
grows  the  finest  barley  the  world  produces.  Inland  from 
Jaffa  lies  the  Plain  of  Sharon — a  land  of  orchards  and 
of  vineyards:  to  the  north  is  the  Plain  of  Esdraelon, 
famous  for  its  crops  of  sesame;  and  also  the  Plain  of 
Beisan,  the  land  of  wheat.  The  Mountains  of  Judah 
were  in  the  past  covered  with  olive  groves  and  vineyards, 
and  there  is  no  reason  why  they  should  not  be  restored 
to  their  ancient  state.  The  so-called  Desert  of  Judaea  is 
capable  of  supporting  innumerable  flocks  of  sheep  and 
goats.  The  great  fissure  of  the  Jordan  Valley,  known  as 
the  Ghor,  has,  on  account  of  its  depth  below  the  sea- 
level,  a  tropical  climate,  and  with  it,  a  luxuriant  tropical 
vegetation.  Beyond  the  Jordan  stretch  the  steppes  of 
Moab,  a  vast  district  which  is  described  as  desert  only 
because  it  has  no  inhabitants  to  develop  its  agricultural 


266  Palestine 

possibilities.  To  the  north  of  Moab  are  the  Mountains 
of  Gilead  with  their  forests  of  oak  and  pine ;  and  farther 
north  still,  the  wheat-lands  of  the  Hauran,  once  one  of 
the  granaries  of  the  world. 

The  foregoing  estimate  of  the  agricultural  possibilities 
of  Palestine  if  the  present  conditions  were  changed  may 
seem  extravagant,  but  it  is  not  so.  At  least,  one  can  say 
that  it  has  plenty  of  unbiassed  authority  behind  it.  The 
luxuriant  growth  of  trees  in  Gilead  and  elsewhere,  de- 
spite no  protection  from  the  destructive  ravages  of  the 
wandering  Bedouin,  is  a  standing  evidence  of  the  natural 
fertility  of  the  soil.  The  crops  that  respond  to  the 
primitive  Arab  methods  of  cultivation  are  another.  In 
some  parts — for  example,  in  the  districts  of  Gaza  and 
Siloam — the  land  already  yields  a  hundredfold.  The 
irrigated  districts  produce  four  crops  in  the  year,  giving 
at  the  same  time  the  products  of  England  and  of  Italy. 
Lucerne,  under  irrigation,  produces  ten  crops  in  the 
year;  without  irrigation,  in  the  valleys,  three.  In  1915 
the  agriculturists  of  Palestine,  relatively  few  in  number 
and  for  the  most  part  primitive  in  their  methods,  de- 
spite a  plague  of  locusts  more  terrible  than  any  in  the 
memory  of  living  man,  were  able  to  supply  the  country 
with  sufficient  corn  to  keep  the  people  alive  while  it 
was  closed  by  the  war  to  the  outside  world.  The  Rev. 
F.  A.  Klein,  writing  in  1883,  said:  "The  fruitfulness 
of  the  land  when  irrigated  is  really  astonishing."  The 
Rev.  G.  E.  Post,  the  botanist,  testified  that  in  flora  Pales- 
tine is  the  richest  country  of  its  size  in  the  world.  It 
includes  more  than  three  thousand  species  of  flowering 
plants. 

Just  as  agriculture  is  the  basis  of  the  State,  so  is  the 


Economic  Present  and  Future         267 

The  first  test  of  the  prospects  of  the  future  of  the  land  is 
therefore  its  capacity  for  producing  wheat  and  other 
cereals.  From  such  a  test  Palestine  has  no  need  to  recoil. 
In  ancient  times  it  included  within  its  confines  one  of  the 
granaries  of  the  world ;  and  in  modern  times  it  has  shown 
that,  given  satisfactory  conditions  and  a  little  encourage- 
ment, it  can  fulfil  the  promise  given  by  its  history.  The 
whole  of  the  land  east  of  the  Jordan,  from  Moab  to 
Hermon  and  the  Hauran,  has  been  described  as  a  wheat 
country  which  cannot  anywhere  be  surpassed  in  excel- 
lence. The  wheat  of  the  Hauran  is  famed  throughout 
the  East.  Other  rich  wheat-fields  are  in  the  Gaza  re- 
gion, in  the  Plain  of  Esdraelon,  and  in  the  Mukhneh  to 
the  east  of  Nablous.  Barley,  durra  (or  millet),  sesame, 
lupin,  oats,  and  maize,  also  flourish. 

The  oranges,  the  olives,  the  grapes,  and  the  almonds 
that  are  grown  in  such  profusion  give  evidence  of  the 
capacity  of  Palestine  as  a  fruit-producing  country. 
Professor  George  Adam  Smith  describes  the  region  as 
"a  land  of  orchards."  With  one  exception,  that  of 
chestnuts,  all  the  fruit-trees  of  the  temperate  zone — 
apples,  pears,  cherries,  apricots,  figs,  walnuts,  peaches, 
mulberries,  almonds,  blackberries,  plums,  quinces,  etc. — 
flourish  there.  In  addition  there  are  the  fruits  of  the 
warmer  climes — the  banana,  the  mandarin,  the  lemon, 
the  citron,  the  date,  the  medlar,  and  the  carob,  or  locust 
bean.  The  flora  and  also  the  fauna  of  Palestine,  in  fact, 
range  from  the  tropical  up  to  the  Alpine  classes.  The 
sugar-cane,  tobacco,  cotton,  rice,  camphor,  laurel, 
papyrus,  are  all  to  be  found  and  could  be  grown  with 
profit.  The  Valley  of  the  Jordan  is  one  huge  hothouse. 
Indigo,  sorghum,  pine-apples,  yams,  and  sweet  potatoes 
could  be  cultivated  without  difficulty.     In  other  districts, 


268  Palestine 

aralia  or  the  castor-oil  plant,  flax,  melons,  gourds,  cumin, 
coriander,  anise,  brinjals  (or  egg-plant),  and  pome- 
granates, could  be  cultivated  without  trouble.  The 
pistachio,  jujube,  balsam,  pine,  maple,  ash,  and  beech- 
trees,  artichokes,  and  asparagus,  grow  wild  in  profusion. 
All  varieties  of  vegetables — onions,  carrots,  beetroot, 
cauliflowers,  potatoes,  garlic,  pumpkins,  cabbages,  tur- 
nips, pepper,  radishes,  and  peas — thrive  in  irrigated 
gardens;  gherkins,  vegetable  marrows,  and  tomatoes, 
even  without  irrigation.  Unlimited  riches  of  the  earth 
are  there,  but  for  the  most  part  go  to  waste  for  lack  of 
development. 

All  this  wonderful  fertility,  existing  and  prospective, 
is  of  course  dependent  on  water,  of  which,  despite  many 
a  statement  to  the  contrary,  there  need  be  no  scarcity 
in  Palestine.  The  average  annual  rainfull  at  Jerusalem 
exceeds  that  at  Athens,  Vienna,  and  Paris,  and  equals 
that  of  London.  Farther  north,  in  Galilee,  the  average 
is  higher.  All  the  rain,  however,  falls  in  the  course  of 
one  half  of  the  year,  and  the  problem  is  how  to  store  the 
excess  so  as  to  distribute  it  over  the  dry  season.  For 
this  purpose  the  means  are  ready  to  hand  in  the  wonder- 
ful series  of  ancient  aqueducts  and  cisterns,  which  need 
comparatively  little  in  the  way  of  repair  in  order  to 
restore  them  to  their  former  usefulness.  New  works  in 
addition  would  increase  the  productiveness  of  the  land 
manifold.  Both  east  and  west  of  the  Jordan  there  are 
several  perennial  rivers  and  far  more  springs  and 
streams.  The  lake  of  Merom  and  the  Sea  of  Galilee  are 
great  reservoirs  from  which  miles  of  neighbouring  land 
could  be  irrigated.  "Few  countries,"  says  the  Rev.  G. 
E.  Post,  "have  a  more  admirable  provision  for  the  col- 
lection, storage,  and  distribution  of  water  than  Syria 


Economic  Present  and  Future         269 

and  Palestine."  The  constitution  of  the  Mountains  of 
Lebanon  and  Anti-Lebanon  is  admirably  suited  to  sup- 
ply the  country  to  the  south  with  all  the  necessary  water. 
By  digging  copious  supplies  of  potable  water  can  be 
found  at  a  depth  of  from  10  to  80  feet  almost  anywhere 
in  the  plains.  The  Plain  of  Sharon  seems  to  cover  a 
subterranean  lake.  Even  without  irrigation  there  is 
very  seldom  a  dearth  of  water.  The  drought  of  sum- 
mer is  compensated  by  the  rains  of  winter,  which  is  the 
period  of  the  growth  of  vegetation.  The  dews  of  sum- 
mer itself  are  sufficiently  heavy  to  ripen  the  summer 
crops,  and  to  give  such  trees  as  the  mulberry,  the  vine, 
the  fig,  the  almond,  and  the  olive,  all  the  moisture  they 
require. 

Land  not  suitable  or  not  required  for  cultivation  is, 
or  could  be,  devoted  to  pasturage.  As  it  is,  large  herds 
of  sheep  and  goats  find  sustenance  in  the  wild,  unsettled 
lands  to  the  east  and  the  south-east,  and  in  the  more 
settled  regions,  herds,  and  also  flocks,  are  fed  on  mul- 
berry-leaves as  well  as  on  the  fodder  more  familiar  to 
Western  stock-breeders.  Poultry-farming  in  Palestine 
is  an  advancing  industry,  and  the  export  of  eggs  from 
Haifa  and  Akka  (Acre)  is  growing.  Situated  where  the 
flora  of  three  different  continents  meet,  Palestine  is  an 
ideal  country  for  bee-keeping.  The  Baldenspergers,  a 
Swiss  family  which  has  been  resident  in  Palestine  for 
half  a  century,  have  achieved  wonderful  results  with 
their  bees.  They  made  it  a  practice  to  move  from  dis- 
trict to  district  during  eight  months  of  the  year,  pur- 
suing the  spring  and  its  flowers  from  the  lowest  to  the 
highest  levels.  They  were  thus  in  the  course  of  one 
season  able  to  produce  several  varieties  of  honey  which 
they  labelled,  "Orange  Blossom,"  "Thyme,"  etc.     By 


270  Palestine 

means  of  the  care  they  devoted  to  their  pursuit  they  ob- 
tained six  tons  of  honey  from  a  hundred  hives  in  the 
course  of  the  eight  months,  or  120  pounds  per  hive.  In 
other  successful  bee-keeping  lands  the  maximum  per  hive 
is  50  pounds  and  the  average  30.  Experiments  have 
already  been  made  in  ostrich-breeding  by  a  South  Afri- 
can farmer,  while  the  breeding  of  Arab  thoroughbreds, 
mules,  and  the  caracul  sheep  of  Turkestan,  should  have 
good  chances  of  success. 

The  products  of  the  soil  lead  direct  to  certain  classes 
of  manufacture  which  belong  rather  to  agriculture  than 
to  urban  industry.  Several  of  these  have  already  been 
acclimatized  in  Palestine,  and  wait  only  for  the  develop- 
ment of  the  form  of  agriculture  on  which  they  depend 
for  expansion.  The  manufacture  of  wine  and  brandy 
has  already  been  mentioned.  Almost  a  part  of  it  is 
the  establishment  of  cask  factories.  The  mulberry-tree 
has  led  direct  to  silk-weaving,  the  olive  to  the  manufac- 
ture of  olive-oil  and  soap.  The  flower-gardens  of  Gali- 
lee have  given  rise  to  the  manufacture  of  attar  of  roses 
and  other  perfumes.  From  durra  spirit  is  distilled  and 
starch  is  made.  Starch  is  also  made  from  wheat,  while 
Palestine  wheat  is  specially  adapted  for  the  manufacture 
of  macaroni,  which  is  exported  to  Egypt  and  Syria.  The 
olives  of  Palestine  produce  the  finest  olive-oil  of  the 
world:  even  the  refuse,  jift,  makes  excellent  fuel. 
There  is  also  material  for  the  manufacture  of  cochineal. 
The  sugar  factories  of  the  Middle  Ages  could  be  rebuilt, 
and  resume  activity  not  only  with  the  produce  of  the 
sugar-cane,  a  native  of  Palestine,  but  also  with  that  of 
the  beet-root,  which  could  easily  be  acclimatized.  For 
the  kindred  preserving  industry  all  the  materials  would 
also  be  to   hand.     With   tobacco   grown   in    Palestine, 


Economic  Present  and  Future         271 

cigarette-making  could  be  undertaken,  and  from  the 
papyrus  which  could  be  cultivated  there  the  best  quali- 
ties of  paper  could  be  made.  Palestine  was  of  old  a 
centre  of  tanning.  At  present  the  country  exports  hides 
and  imports  leather.  With  not  much  capital,  assisted 
by  suitable  labour,  the  hides  could  become  leather  with- 
out leaving  the  country.  The  carob,  or  locust  bean, 
excellent  for  fodder  and  also  for  human  food,  is  too 
valuable  to  be  devoted  to  such  purposes.  It  is  exported 
to  Europe,  where  the  demand  for  it,  as  one  of  the  essen- 
tial ingredients  of  cheap  chocolate,  can  hardly  be  sup- 
plied. Of  the  motive  power  for  factories — electricity — 
the  innumerable  waterfalls  of  the  land  furnish  an  inex- 
haustible supply. 

If  the  foregoing  list  exhausted  the  possible  productions 
of  Palestine,  the  land  would  well  be  able  to  support  a 
people  many  times  larger  than  at  present,  in  comfort 
and  in  happiness.  The  catalogue  of  natural  productions 
has,  however,  by  no  means  been  completed.  Those  that 
remain  to  be  mentioned,  if  properly  developed,  would 
bring  far  more  than  comfort — prosperity — to  the  land. 
The  mineral  and  chemical  resources  of  Palestine  are  very 
considerable.  The  Dead  Sea  and  its  shores  alone  are  a 
veritable  mine  of  precious  products.  The  supply  of 
chlorate  of  potassium  there  is  practically  inexhaustible. 
In  the  same  region  are  to  be  found  bitumen,  bromides, 
asphalt,  salt,  pottery  clay,  sulphur,  and  petroleum.  The 
Sinai  Peninsula  contains  copper  and  granite.  At  Ma 'an, 
in  the  south-east,  there  are  said  to  be  large  coal  and  iron 
deposits.  Near  Sidon,  iron,  red  and  yellow  ochre,  and 
coal  exist.  In  Trans-Jordania  and  especially  at  Es-Salt, 
phosphates  can  be  found  in  large  quantities.  In  the 
Mountains  of  Judah  and  in  the  Valley  of  the  Jordan 


272  Palestine 

there  are  deposits  of  chalk  and  of  plaster.  The  neigh- 
bouring land  of  Midian,  whose  mines  were  famous  in 
ancient  history,  contains  gold,  silver,  copper,  turquoise, 
sulphur,  rocksalt,  gypsum,  and  alabaster. 

Another  path  towards  prosperity  that  Palestine,  under 
a  reformed  government,  would  possess  lies  in  its  attrac- 
tion as  a  health  resort,  by  means  of  which  it  might  well 
rival  Egypt,  and  for  the  countries  of  Eastern  Europe, 
the  Riviera.  The  climate  of  the  coastal  regions  is,  in- 
deed, similar  to  that  of  Southern  France,  and  Jaffa, 
Haifa,  and  other  towns  that  would  come  into  existence 
could  without  much  difficulty  be  made  to  compete  with 
the  best  attractions  of  Nice  and  Bordighera.  The  settle- 
ments on  the  shore  of  Lake  Tiberias  and  on  the  lower 
slopes  of  Mount  Hermon  have  already  become  spring 
and  summer  resorts,  and,  developing  with  the  general 
progress  of  the  country,  should  in  due  course  attract 
larger  and  larger  gatherings  of  seekers  after  health  and 
recreation.  The  Jericho  region,  which  is  already  almost 
within  a  week's  journey  of  London,  was  in  the  time  of 
Herod  a  magnificent  winter  resort.  It  would  not  be  dif- 
ficult to  restore  to  it  its  former  functions.  The  hot 
mineral  springs  in  its  neighbourhood,  at  Tel-el-Ham- 
mam  and  Calirrhoe,  would  increase  its  attractiveness. 
The  hot  sulphur  springs  of  Tiberias  are  mentioned  in  the 
Talmud.  Their  valuable  medicinal  qualities  were  ap- 
preciated in  mediaeval  times,  and  from  those  days  to 
these  the  stream  of  visitors  seeking  relief  from  physical 
ills,  although  perhaps  never  considerable,  has  been  prac- 
tically continuous. 

Hitherto  we  have  dealt  with  the  natural  wealth  of 
the  land.  Without  the  aid  of  human  agencies  it  is, 
however,  of  little  value.    The  wheat-fields  of  the  Hauran 


Economic  Present  and  Future         273 

may  teem  with  their  produce,  but  if  the  means  whereby 
to  distribute  it  are  lacking,  they  might  as  well  be  barren. 
The  shores  of  the  Dead  Sea  may  be  studded  with  petro- 
leum springs,  but  if  there  is  no  one  to  gather  the  bounti- 
ful harvest  and  to  husband  it,  it  will  run  to  waste,  and 
so  far  as  humanity  is  concerned  the  mineral  wealth  of 
the  region  might  well  have  never  been.  Essentials  pre- 
liminary to  the  prosperity  of  the  land,  to  its  capacity  to 
support  an  adequate  population,  are  suitable  and  suffi- 
cient means  of  communication,  both  from  one  part  of  the 
country  to  another,  and  also  with  the  outside  world. 
The  roads  of  Palestine  at  present  are  both  bad  and  in- 
sufficient, but  it  would  not  be  very  expensive  to  remedy 
this  defect.  The  existing  roads  could  be  improved  and 
the  old  Roman  roads,  long  ago  passed  into  neglect  and 
almost  into  disuse,  could  be  restored.  So  thoroughly  did 
the  Romans  build,  that  it  is  apparently  impossible  ut- 
terly to  destroy,  even  deliberately,  their  handiwork. 

In  the  course  of  the  past  couple  of  decades  Palestine 
has  been  provided  with  a  nucleus  railway  system  which, 
when  extended,  should  go  far  to  restore  the  country  to 
its  ancient  position  as  the  high-road  between  Europe 
and  Asia  on  the  one  hand,  and  Africa  on  the  other,  and 
also  as  the  bridge  connecting,  by  means  of  a  railway 
to  the  Persian  Gulf,  Europe  and  the  East.  The  port  of 
Jaffa  is  already  connected  with  Jerusalem,  and  those  of 
Akka  and  Haifa  with  Damascus  and  the  Hedjaz  railway, 
which  in  due  course  will  lead  to  Constantinople  in  the 
one  direction,  Mecca  and  Southern  Arabia  in  another, 
and  Bagdad  and  the  Persian  Gulf  in  a  third.  This  rail- 
way brings  the  rich  Trans-Jordania  region  into  touch 
with  the  outer  world.  At  Merehaviah,  half-way  between 
the  Jordan  and  the  sea,  a  branch  railway  to  Jerusalem 


274  Palestine 

has  been  built,  and  half  of  it,  to  a  point  beyond  Nablous, 
had  been  opened  to  traffic  before  the  outbreak  of  war. 
Damascus  is  connected  with  Haifa  and  Akka  by  two  lines, 
one  of  which,  the  Hedjaz  railway,  running  near  the 
easternmost  boundary  of  Trans-Jordania,  is  continued 
into  Arabia.  Since  the  war  broke  out  a  few  miles  of 
the  railway  from  Jaffa  have  been  torn  up,  probably 
in  order  to  create  difficulties  for  a  possible  hostile  army 
landing  at  Jaffa.  On  the  other  hand,  railways  have  been 
built  from  the  Jerusalem-Jaffa  line  to  the  south  as  far 
as  the  Egyptian  frontier  and  to  the  north,  the  latter 
connecting  with  the  line  to  Haifa  and  Damascus.  As 
the  land  develops,  many  other  small  railroads  will  be 
constructed,  every  one,  in  the  benefits  which  it  will  bring 
to  the  land  and  to  its  inhabitants,  returning  the  cost  of 
construction  manifold.  Two,  however,  supplying  links 
now  missing  from  the  chain,  will  help  to  make  Palestine 
the  railway  centre  of  the  world,  a  position  for  which 
geography  has  already  qualified  it.  Some  day  or  other, 
perhaps  not  very  distant,  the  railway  from  Haifa  will 
continue  due  east  until  it  crosses  the  Tigris  and  the 
Euphrates.  There  it  will  meet  lines  which  are  already 
in  part  under  construction  or  which  circumstances  will 
make  inevitable,  running  to  the  Persian  Gulf,  across  Per- 
sia to  India,  and  northwards  to  the  Russian  dominions. 
When  that  day  arrives,  when  those  railways  are  in  exist- 
ence, Palestine  will  be  in  railway  connection  with  the 
greater  part  of  Asia,  and  for  the  greater  part  of  Europe 
the  quickest  route  to  the  East  will  be  through  the  Holy 
Land.  From  the  Jerusalem  line  a  railway  already 
stretches  towards  the  south.  Some  day,  when  it  has 
been  made  permanent,  it  will  be  continued  through 
Gaza,   across  the   El-Arish,   the   River   of   Egypt,   the 


Economic  Present  and  Future         275 

Wilderness  of  Zin,  and  the  Suez  Canal.  Once  in  Egypt 
it  will  link  up  with  the  Egyptian  railway  system  and 
the  Cape  to  Cairo  line,  which  by  then  will  have  been 
completed.  With  the  completion  of  this  link  the  junc- 
tion of  Africa  with  Asia  and  Europe  will  be  complete. 
It  will  be  possible  to  travel  from  Calcutta  or  Calais  to 
Cape  Town,  from  Siberia  to  South  Africa,  by  rail  all  the 
way,  and  in  that  day  Palestine  will  again,  but  in  a  new 
sense,  be  the  centre  of  the  world. 

Railways,  and  railways  alone,  can  connect  Asia  with 
Africa,  but  railways  alone  are  not  sufficient  to  bring  Asia 
into  close  relationship  with  Europe  over  a  Palestinian 
route.  Between  Europe  and  the  East  railways  would 
be  the  roads,  but  the  gates,  the  ports,  must  be  open.  At 
present  Palestine,  with  a  coast-line  the  whole  of  her  length, 
has  no  ports.  Jaffa  and  Haifa  are  spoken  of  as  ports, 
but  they  are  without  harbours,  and  as  a  consequence, 
when  the  weather  is  rough,  it  is  impossible  for  vessels  to 
discharge  their  cargoes  or  land  their  passengers  there. 
Beyrout  is  then  the  first  landing-place,  and  passengers 
must  get  thence  to  Palestine  by  a  circuitous  railway  jour- 
ney or  by  road.  Merchandise  must  follow  a  similar 
inconvenient  and  expensive  course  or  await  a  favourable 
wind.  Given  sufficient  resources,  harbours  can  be  con- 
structed anywhere.  On  the  Palestinian  coast  no  con- 
siderable difficulties  would  be  interposed  by  nature 
between  the  engineer  and  his  goal.  Jaffa  is  certainly  not 
the  most  suitable  situation  for  a  harbour,  but  at  Haifa 
the  natural  features  are  ideal.  The  Bay  stretching  from 
Akka,  to  the  north,  to  Haifa,  to  the  south,  would  form  a 
harbour  three  miles  broad  by  eight  long.  On  the  south 
and  the  east  it  would  be  protected  by  the  mountains  and 
promontory  of  Carmel.     Inland  easy  roads  and  a  rail- 


276  Palestine 

way,  from  both  Akka  and  Haifa,  lead  to  Damascus  and 
all  the  regions  which  are  connected  with  that  city  by  rail. 
In  its  course  the  railway  passes  through  the  rich  lands 
of  Galilee  and  of  the  Hauran.  Radiating  north,  east, 
and  south,  roads  lead  to  Beyrout,  the  settlements  in 
Galilee  and  Samaria,  Nablous  and  Jaffa.  Jerusalem  is 
already  in  railway  connection  with  Haifa,  although  the 
connection  is  still  somewhat  precarious.  The  richest 
portions  of  Palestine  lead  direct  to  Akka  and  Haifa. 

To  the  far  south-east  is  the  derelict  port  of  Akabah, 
the  Ezion-Geber  of  Solomon's  kingdom,  at  the  head  of 
one  of  the  arms  of  the  Red  Sea.  To  Arabia,  the  neigh- 
bouring land,  it  is  useless.  To  Palestine,  its  value  would 
be  above  price.  From  Ezion-Geber  the  ships  of  Solomon 
sailed  for  Ophir  and  the  East.  From  Akabah  a  restored 
Palestine  might  trade  with  East  and  South  Africa,  with 
the  Persian  Gulf,  with  India  and  the  Far  East.  Akabah 
is  at  present  isolated,  deserted,  a  place  of  no  consequence 
or  value.  But  the  railway  from  Damascus  runs  not  far 
away.  A  branch  from  this  railway  to  the  sea  would 
restore  Akabah  once  more  to  civilization. 

For  the  regeneration  of  Palestine,  roads,  railways,  and 
harbours  are  required.  But  these  are  not  all.  If  they 
were  provided,  the  great  essential  would  still  be  missing. 
Palestine  might  be  like  a  beautifully  decorated  and 
furnished  palace,  fitted  with  all  the  most  up-to-date  con- 
trivances intended  to  minister  to  the  comfort  and  the 
pleasure  of  its  inhabitants.  But  if  the  inhabitants  were 
lacking,  all  the  costly  provision  would  be  as  naught. 
Roads,  railways,  and  harbours  may  be  provided  by  out- 
side means,  but  if  they  are  not  to  decay  and  fall  into 
ruin,  a  population  capable  of  utilizing  them  and  anxious 
to  do  so  must  also  be  provided.     Such  a  population  can- 


Economic  Present  and  Future         277 

not  come  from  the  East,  for  it  is  not  of  the  genius  of  the 
Asiatic  to  regenerate  a  land.  The  new  Palestine  needs  a 
new  population — a  population  of  the  character  of  that 
of  which  a  nucleus  has  already  settled  in  Jaffa  and  in  the 
newly  founded  villages  of  Judaea,  of  Samaria,  and  of 
Galilee.  For  the  European  colonist  Palestine  has  no 
attraction.  It  cannot  compete  with  the  call  of  America, 
of  Canada,  of  Australia,  or  of  South  Africa.  The  Jew 
alone  feels  the  call  to  the  Holy  Land,  to  the  home  of  his 
ancestors,  to  the  region  where  the  supremest  fruits  of 
his  genius  were  produced  for  the  eternal  benefit  of  man- 
kind. The  Jew  has  been  entrusted  from  his  creation  as 
a  people  with  the  mission  of  interpreter  and  mediator 
between  the  East  and  the  West,  but  it  is  only  in  his  own 
homeland  that  he  can  properly  fulfil  his  mission.  The 
Jew  alone  can  once  again  make  the  land  blossom  as  a 
rose  and  flow  with  milk  and  honey.  The  Jew  alone  can 
make  the  land  which  has  been  accursed  ever  since  his 
ancestors  were  driven  out  of  it  nearly  nineteen  centuries 
ago,  once  again  a  blessing  to  mankind.  But  it  is  only 
with  the  assistance  of  Christendom  that  he  can  do  so. 
Eoads,  railways,  and  harbours  are  necessities  for  Pales- 
tine, but,  above  all,  an  industrious  intelligent  population 
and  a  just  and  stable  government.  Only  by  the  safe- 
guard of  a  European  guarantee  can  these  be  provided. 

"Given  a  strong,  wise,  just  government,"  said  Colonel 
Conder,  "and  the  country  may  be  trusted  to  assert  its 
ancient  reputation  for  fertility.  .  .  .  The  only  radical 
change  required  is  the  total  abolition  of  the  present 
official  staff,  from  the  pasha  down  to  the  lowest  mudir 
or  kaimakam.  .  .  .  Palestine  requires  nothing  but  good 
government,  an  increased  population,  and  civilized  cul- 
tivation to  restore  its  prosperity."    Mr.  John  B.  Hay, 


278  Palestine 

for  many  years  United  States  Consul  at  Jerusalem, 
expressed  the  opinion  that  "a  European  immigration  on 
a  large  scale  would  be  a  valuable  means  of  regenerating 
Palestine."  Sir  Richard  Burton,  another  considerable 
authority  on  the  Astiatic  Near  East,  held  similar  views. 
"The  Holy  Land,  when  provided  with  railways  and 
tramways,  will  offer  the  happiest  blending  of  the  ancient 
and  modern  worlds.  It  will  become  another  Egypt,  with 
the  distinct  advantage  of  a  superior  climate  and  far 
nobler  races  of  men."  Again,  "Syria  and  Palestine,  I 
may  safely  prophesy,  still  awaits  the  hour  when,  the 
home  of  a  free,  a  striving,  and  an  energetic  people,  it  will 
again  pour  forth  corn  and  oil,  it  will  flow  with  milk  and 
honey,  and  it  will  '  bear, '  with  proper  culture,  almost  all 
the  good  things  that  have  been  given  to  man."  Again 
quoting  Conder:  "The  Hills  of  Palestine  might  be 
covered  with  vines  and  the  valleys  run  with  oil,  the 
plains  might  be  yellow  with  corn  and  the  harbours  full 
of  ships.  .  .  .  Palestine  might  become  the  Garden  of  the 
World,  situate  as  it  is  in  so  accessible  a  position,  with  the 
great  Mediterranean  waterway  so  close  to  its  corn  plains 
and  olive  yards. ' ' 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

THE  POLITICAL  FUTURE 

The  story  has  now  been  told  of  the  vicissitudes  which 
Palestine  and  its  peoples  have  undergone  since  its  sub- 
jugation by  the  Romans.  Conquest  has  followed  con- 
quest from  that  day  almost  to  this.  Roman,  Byzantine, 
Frank,  Saracen,  Turk,  have  all  held  sway  for  long 
periods.  For  shorter  ones  other  conquerors  have  had 
possession  of  the  land.  In  all  ages  Palestine  has  been 
an  object  of  desire  and  of  contention.  Ruler  has  suc- 
ceeded to  ruler,  but  seldom  have  the  subjects  benefited 
by  the  change.  "With  the  exception  of  the  period  of 
Frankish  domination,  Palestine  has  always  been  gov- 
erned in  the  interests  not  of  its  own  people,  but  of  those 
of  another  land ;  and  even  under  the  Franks  the  interests 
of  the  indigenous  populations  were  invariably  made  sub- 
servient to  those  of  new-comers.  The  history  of  Pales- 
tine during  the  past  eighteen  centuries  has  been  boun- 
teous in  incidents.  In  prosperity,  however,  it  has  shown 
an  almost  uninterrupted  degeneration.  The  Romans 
found  the  country  thickly  inhabited  by  a  population 
generally  prosperous.  The  forthcoming  congress  for  the 
settlement  of  the  affairs  of  civilization  will  look  upon  it 
as  almost  a  desert  land  inhabited  by  a  sparse  and  on  the 
whole  poverty-stricken  population. 

The  purpose  of  this  volume  is  not  merely  to  give  a 
history  of  the  degeneration  of  Palestine.    It  looks  toward 

279 


280  Palestine 

the  future  as  well  as  back  to  the  past.  It  attempts  to 
extract  from  the  experience  of  history  the  lesson  out  of 
which  profit  may  be  obtained  in  the  future.  To  a  large 
extent  it  deals  with  the  dry  sticks  of  the  dead,  but  it 
also  finds  and  turns  the  light  upon  the  green  shoots  of 
the  living.  The  story  of  eighteen  centuries  of  retro- 
gression has  been  told,  but  in  far  greater  detail  has  been 
described  the  revival  which  is  not  yet  more  than  a  genera- 
tion in  age.  For  the  promise  of  the  past  thirty  or  thirty- 
five  years  is  of  more  account  in  the  history  of  Palestine 
than  the  performance  of  the  preceding  eighteen  centuries. 
During  this  brief  period  of  thirty-five  years,  difficulties 
which  to  those  of  less  faith  or  less  hope  would  have 
appeared  insuperable  have  been  overcome,  and  the  found- 
ations of  a  new  Palestine  and  a  new  Jewry  have  been 
laid.  Only  the  foundations,  and  foundations  as  yet  by 
no  means  too  secure.  The  new-comers  have  come,  urged 
by  no  political  motives,  the  emissaries  of  no  foreign 
state.  Whole-heartedly  they  have  given  their  allegiance 
to  the  existing  government  of  the  land  in  which  they 
settled,  and  in  normal  circumstances  their  children  born 
in  Palestine  would  have  been — as  are  their  kinsmen  in 
all  other  lands — among  the  most  loyal  of  the  elements 
in  the  population.  The  highest  ambition  of  the  Jew  in 
Palestine  was,  and  is,  to  live  in  peace — free,  in  a  Jewish 
atmosphere  amid  Jewish  surroundings,  to  follow  his 
unaggressive  callings,  instinctively  and  unconsciously  to 
fulfil  the  mission  in  the  world  which  has  been  entrusted 
to  his  people — the  mission  of  civilization.  If  circum- 
stances had  followed  a  normal  course,  more  and  more 
Jews  would  have  settled  in  Palestine  and  been  born  there. 
Further  and  further  tracts  would  have  been  brought 
under  cultivation.     Education  and  true  civilization  would 


The  Political  Future  281 

^ — — — i^ i^— .. .- ^— ^^ 

have  gradually  permeated  the  whole  of  the  people. 
Palestine  would  once  again  have  become  a  land  flowing 
with  milk  and  honey,  bringing  material  and  intellectual 
as  well  as  spiritual  benefits  to  humanity.  In  the  Turk- 
ish Empire  a  rich  province  would  have  taken  the  place 
of  a  derelict  land.  The  Jews  of  Palestine,  the  one  pro- 
gressive element  in  the  population,  would  have  benefited 
greatly  and  would  in  course  of  time  have  acquired  an 
overwhelming  influence  in  the  local  government,  but  their 
prosperity  and  happiness  would  have  been  shared  by  the 
other  inhabitants.  In  no  land  does  the  prosperity  of  any 
considerable  part  of  the  population  fail  to  react  on  that 
of  the  whole.  In  no  land  does  the  presence  of  Jews  fail 
to  spread  benefits.  This  is  true  even  in  the  poverty- 
stricken  towns  of  the  Pale  of  Settlement  and  in  the 
formerly  vice-  and  crime-infested  slums  of  East  London. 
Its  truth  is  proved  by  a  comparison  between  the. con- 
dition of  the  people  in  those  Russian  provinces  from 
which  Jews  are  excluded  with  that  in  the  others  in  which 
they  are  herded  together.  The  history  of  Spain  and 
Portugal  tells  of  the  loss  brought  upon  a  country  by  the 
expulsion  of  its  Jews. 

The  Turkish  Government  has  given  no  help  to  the 
Jewish  regeneration  of  Palestine.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  cannot  be  said  to  have  impeded  it  very  seriously.  The 
Jews,  in  fact,  are  for  the  most  part  left  to  work  out  their 
own  material  salvation.  The  Turkish  Government  bene- 
fits from  a  larger  revenue  from  taxation  derived  directly 
and  indirectly  from  the  Jewish  settlements,  and  from 
greater  ease  in  obtaining  payment.  In  return  it  neglects 
to  fulfil  many  of  the  functions  proper  to  governments 
in  other  lands,  but  it  grants  to  the  Jews  a  large  measure 
of  freedom  to  manage  their  own  local  affairs.    The  f unc- 


282  Palestine 

tions  which  the  Government  neglects  are  performed  as 
far  as  possible  by  the  Jews  themselves.  The  great  dis- 
advantage is  the  feeling  of  insecurity  general  under 
Oriental  Governments — a  feeling  more  active  outside  of 
Palestine  than  within,  more  powerful  in  deterring  Euro- 
pean Jews  from  entrusting  their  liberties  or  property  to 
Turkish  law,  than  in  affecting  those  who  are  already 
settled  in  the  country.  Above  all,  the  great  disadvantage 
of  the  present  system  is  the  consciousness  that  it  offers 
no  safeguard  against  a  possible  aggressive  foreign  Power. 
Nevertheless,  despite  these  drawbacks,  Turkish  rule  is  by 
no  means  unfavourable  to  the  Jewish  development  in 
Palestine,  and  a  change  may  very  well  be  for  the  worse. 
When  the  representatives  of  the  Powers  of  Europe 
meet  in  congress,  it  may  well  be  that  the  destiny  of  Pales- 
tine will  come  up  for  consideration,  and  as  a  consequence 
another  government  will  be  given  to  it.  If  this  be  so, 
the  fate  of  the  new  Palestine  and  of  the  new  Jewry  will 
at  the  same  time  be  decided.  The  interests  of  Europe 
in  the  Holy  Land,  religious,  historical,  commercial, 
archaeological,  and  strategic,  are  so  many,  that  every  one 
of  the  Powers  will  be  able  to  make  out  a  case  for  con- 
sideration. Fortunately — as,  for  instance,  in  the  reli- 
gious sphere — some  of  these  claims  neutralize  one  another. 
Strategically,  commercially,  archseologically,  and  from 
the  point  of  view  of  the  present  inhabitants,  Moslem, 
Christian,  and  Jewish  almost  without  exception,  the 
interests  of  the  Power  that  now  holds  the  neighbouring 
Egypt  are  overwhelmingly  the  strongest.  For  the  greater 
part  of  history  Palestine  and  Egypt  have  been  closely 
connected,  for  the  smaller  state  is  in  effect  a  shield  to 
the  larger  on  its  only  vulnerable  side.  The  religious 
interests  of  England  may  be  less  than  those  of  other 


The  Political  Future  283 

Powers,  but  this  renders  the  presence  of  England  in 
Palestine — if  it  is  necessary  to  find  a  substitute  for  the 
Moslem — all  the  more  essential.  To  keep  the  peace 
between  the  Latin  and  Greek,  and  to  prevent  the  Holy 
City  from  becoming  a  perpetual  shambles,  the  Moslem 
soldiery  has  hitherto  been  on  guard.  If  it  is  withdrawn 
its  place  must  be  taken  by  another  neutral — Protestant 
or  Jew.  The  latter  has  no  desire  for  any  such  office, 
and  would  not  for  many  years — until  the  new  nation  has 
passed  out  of  infancy — have  the  strength  to  hold  it. 
The  Protestant,  as  the  guardian  of  the  Holy  Places  of 
Christendom,  is  at  present  the  only  possible  alternative 
to  the  Turk.  If  the  Turkish  sway  passes  from  Jerusalem, 
the  Moslem  Holy  Places,  second  in  importance  only  to 
those  of  Mecca,  will  also  need  a  protector.  For  such  an 
office  the  Great  Power  which  counts  its  Mohammedan 
subjects  by  tens  of  millions  seems  indisputably  marked 
out.  Thus  the  security  of  the  one  weak  link  in  the  chain 
of  empire,  the  religious  rivalries  of  Christendom,  the 
interests  of  the  Moslem  world  and  the  desires  of  the  many 
peoples  of  Palestine,  all  combine  to  invite  that  Power  to 
extend  its  invincible  protection  to  the  Holy  Land. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  the  Jews  already  settled  and 
to  settle  in  Palestine,  such  a  solution  of  the  problem 
already  opened  is  practically  the  only  possible  one,  if 
the  newly  risen  hopes  are  not  to  be  dashed  to  the  ground. 
The  possibility  of  an  independent  Jewish  State  cannot 
be  discussed  in  the  course  of  the  present  generation  or 
at  any  date  which  either  the  writer  or  the  reader  can 
expect  to  see.  Local  autonomy  is  all  that  the  Jews  of 
Palestine  ask — the  development  of  the  system  which  has 
already  been  inaugurated,  and  whose  success  has  been 
proved  by  experience.     The  Jews  desire  no  favour  as 


284  Palestine 

compared  with,  the  other  inhabitants  of  the  land.  They 
are  willing  for  all  the  advantages  of  a  free  and  liberal 
government  to  be  enjoyed  by  all  equally.  Thus  if  Pales- 
tine ultimately  becomes  entirely — that  is  to  say,  over- 
whelmingly— Jewish,  it  will  become  so,  not  by  artificial 
means,  but  as  a  consequence  of  natural  growth.  The 
function  of  the  protecting  Power  would  be  to  see  fair 
play  between  the  different  elements  in  the  population, 
to  protect  them  all  equally  against  outside  aggression 
and  threat  of  aggression,  and  to  educate  the  people  in 
the  science  of  self-government.  At  first,  at  any  rate, 
as  in  Egypt,  in  the  native  states  of  India  and  elsewhere, 
the  administrative  body  of  the  Government  would  have 
to  be  recruited  to  a  large  extent  from  outside.  The 
choice  of  these  administrators  would  rest  with  the  Im- 
perial Government,  which  would  have  the  interests  of 
Palestine  and  its  peoples  always  foremost  in  its  mind, 
and  would  select  men  known  to  be  in  sympathy  with  the 
ideals  of  the  land  which  they  would  have  to  administer, 
who  would  go  there  not  merely  as  civil  servants,  but  as 
settlers  determined  to  make  their  homes  and  their  chil- 
dren's homes  in  the  new  land.  The  Power  to  which 
would  fall  the  task  of  protecting  the  new  Palestine  while 
it  recovered  its  soul  would  attract  to  itself  the  blessings 
promised  to  those  who  befriend  the  Chosen  People  in 
their  adversity. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  following  list  of  works  on  different  aspects  of  the 
subject  with  which  the  foregoing  pages  deal  is  not  exhaus- 
tive. It  contains  only  English  books  and  those  which 
are  readily  obtainable,  the  intention  being  not  to  compile 
a  bibliography,  but  to  furnish  the  English  reader  who 
may  have  found  an  interest  in  the  subject  with  a  hand- 
list of  books  which  will  enable  him  to  go  more  deeply 
into  it. 

Historical. 

Le    Strange,    Guy:     Palestine    under    the    Moslems.     (London, 

1890.) 
Besant,  Walter,  and  Palmer,  E.  H. :     Jerusalem,  The  City  of 

Herod  and  Saladin.     (London,  1899.) 
Conder,  C.  R.:     The  City  of  Jerusalem.      (London,  1909.) 
Watson,  Sir  C.  M. :     The  Story  of  Jerusalem.     (London,  1912.) 
Paton,  L.  B.:     Early  History  of  Syria  and  Palestine.     (London, 

1902.) 
Conder,  C.  R.:     Latin  Kingdom  of  Jerusalem.     (London,  1897.) 
Smith,  Sir  George  Adam:     Jerusalem.     (London,  1908.) 

Modern  Palestine. 

Goodrich -Freer,  A.:     Inner  Jerusalem.     (London,  1904.) 
Tristram,  H   B.:     The  Land  of  Israel.      (London,  1865.) 
Treves,  Sir  Frederick:     The  Land  that  is  Desolate.     (London, 
1912.) 

The  Jewish  Settlement. 

Szold,  Henrietta  :     Recent  Jewish  Progress  in  Palestine.     ( Phila- 
delphia, 1915.) 

285 


286  Palestine 

Cohen,   Israel :     Editor,  Zionist  Work  in  Palestine.     (London, 

1911.) 
Adler,  E.  N. :     Jews  in  many  Lands.      (London,  1905.) 
Jannaway,  F.  G. :     Palestine  and  the  Jews.      ( Birmingham,  1914. ) 

Palestine,  Miscellaneous. 

Smith,  Sib  George  Adam  :  The  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy 
Land.      (London,  1910.) 

Huntington,  Ellsworth:  Palestine  and  its  Transformation. 
(London,  1911.) 

Post,  G.  E. :  Flora  of  Syria,  Palestine,  and  Sinai.  (London, 
1896.) 

Tristram,  H.  B.:  The  Fauna  and  Flora  of  Palestine.  (London, 
1884.) 

Hull,  E. :  The  Geology  of  Palestine  and  Arabia  Petraa.  (Lon- 
don, 1886.) 

Zionism. 

Herzl,  Theodore:     A  Jewish  Sate.     (London,  1896.) 

Sacher,  H. :     Editor,  Zionism  and  the  Jewish  Future.     (London, 

1916.) 
Goodman,  P.,  and  Lewis,  Arthur  D. :     Zionism — Problems  and 

Views.     (London,  1916.) 
Ginzberg,  A.  (Achad  Ha' Am)  :     Selected  Essays.     (Philadelphia, 

1910.) 
Gottheil,  Richard:     Zionism.     (Philadelphia,  1914.) 

The  Renascence  of  Hebrew. 

Schlouschy,  N. :  The  Renascence  of  Hebrew.  (Philadelphia, 
1909.) 

Raisin,  Jacob  S.:  The  Haskalah  Movement.  (Philadelphia, 
1913.) 

Waldstein,  Abraham  S. :  The  Evolution  of  Modern  Hebrew  Lit- 
erature.    (Oxford,  1916.) 


INDEX 


Aaeonsohn,  A.,  221 

Ab,  9th  of,  1,  5 

Abdallah,  Joseph,  164 

Abd  el-Melek,  Caliph,  16 

Abelim,  16 

"Abraham's  Vineyard,"   72-73, 

82,  109 
Abramowitsch,  S.  J.,  257 
Abu  Bekr,  15 
Abulafia,  Abraham,  162 
Abu'l  Dhabab,  46 
Achad    Ha'Am,     177,     180-181, 

212-215,  239,  256-257 
Achuzah  Plantation  Companies, 

152   228 
Acre, '31,  32,  35-36,  43,  46,  47, 

48,  60,  61,  86,  165,  236,  269 
Acre,  Bay  of,  86 
Acre,  capture  of,  50 
Acre,  sack  of,  35 
Adana,  50 

Aden  Hinterland,  Jews  of,  6 
Adler,  E.  N.,  cited,  87 
Adler,  Hermann,  112 
Administration   of    the   Jewish 

colonies,  129-130 
JEU&  Capitolina,  6 
Africa,  British  East,  projected 

Jewish    settlement    in,    200- 

203,  205-208 
Africa,  Jews  of,  48 
Africa,  Zionists  in  South,  195 
Agricultural    Experiment    Sta- 
tion, 154,  221-222 
Agricultural     School,     Jewish, 

173,  219,  242 
Agriculture,  Jews  and,   12,  22, 
'     38,  43,  73,  85,  92,  158,  169- 

170,  208 
Agrippa,  3 


287 


Agudath   Netaim   Society,    149, 

157-230 
Ahavath  Zion  Society,  148 
Ahiasaf,  181 
Ahmed  el  Jazzar,  47,  48 
Ain  Ganim,  128 
Ain  Kateb,  151 
Ain  Zeitun,  147 
Akabah,  276 
Akibah,  Rabbi,  5,  6 
Akka.     See  Acre 
Aleppo,  50,  166 
Aleppo,  Jews  of,  in  Jerusalem, 

81 
Alexander  II.,  Czar,  67,  177 
Alexander  III.,  Czar,  256 
Alexander,  Michael  Solomon,  55 
Alexandria,  sack  of,  36,  37 
Algeria,  immigration  from,  61, 

62,  87 
Ali  Bey,  46 

Alien  Immigration,  Royal  Com- 
mission on,  195,  296 
Alkalai,  Judah,  172 
Alliance    Israelite    Vniverselle, 

99,    124,    173,   219,   236,   238, 

241,  242,  260,  263 
"Alroy,"  162,  168 
Amalric  I.,  of  Jerusalem,  25,  26, 

28,  29,  30 
America,      immigration      into, 

105;    immigration   from,   79; 

Jewish    agricultural    colonies 

in,  116,  186,  218;  Zionists  in, 

194,    207-10,    212,    213,    215, 

216,  223,  226,  228 
American     intervention,     68-9, 

113 
American    Jews,    91,    96 ,  152, 

154,  160,  166,  212 


288 


Index 


American  missionaries,  58 

American  work  in  Palestine, 
221 

Amsterdam,  Chalukah  Organi- 
zation at,  65 

Anglo- Jewish  Association,  219, 
234,  236,  241 

Anglo-Levantine  Banking  Co., 
211 

Anglo-Palestine  Company,  87, 
150,  223-227 

Antioch,  29,  35;  loss  of,  25 

Antoninus  Pius,  7 

Arabia,  emigration  to,  6 

Arabs,  71,  121-22,  129,  130, 
148,  157;  immigration  of,  16 

"Ararat,"  167 

Armenians,  massacres  of,  188 

Artuf,  141 

Ascalon,  27;  battle  of,  21;  cap- 
ture of,  26,  34 

Ashkenazim,  60-1,  75-6,  81,  87 

Asia,  Jews  of,  48 

Asia  Minor,  50 

"Athid"  factory,  141 

Atlit,  157,  221 

Australia,  Zionists  in,  194 

Austria,  anti-Semitism  in,  186, 
190;  Chovevi  Zion  in,  113, 
178;  immigration  from,  79; 
massacres  in,  25 

Austrian  fleet,  51;  Govern- 
ment, 45,  49,  53,  54,  183 

"Auto-Emancipation,"  110,  177, 
179 

Avigdor,  Elim  d',  111 

Babylon,  Jews  of,  4 

Baldensperger  family,  the,  269 

Baldwin,  Count  of  Edessa  and 
King  of  Jerusalem,  21 

Baldwin  IE,  King  of  Jerusa- 
lem, 22 

Baldwin  TIE,  King  of  Jerusa- 
lem, 24-5 

Baldwin  IV.,  King  of  Jerusalem, 
28 

Baldwin  V.,  King  of  Jerusalem, 
28 


Banking  in  Palestine,  96,   150, 

218,  219-222 
Bar  Cochba,  5,  159,  161 
Basle  Congresses,   192-96,  205- 

7;  programme,  193,  207 
Bath  Shelomo,  153 
Beaconsfield,    Lord,     101,     162, 

168 
Bedjen,  149-50 
Bee-keeping  in  Palestine,  269- 

70 
Beer  Tobiah.     See  Castinieh 
Beilan,  50 

Beisan,  Plain  of,  265 
Ben- Avigdor,  A.  L.,  257 
Bene  Mosheh,  181,  213 
Bene"  Yehudah,  157,  158 
Beniach,  Abraham,  169-70 
Benjamin  of  Tudela,  27-83,  93 
Benjamin  IE,  63 
Ben-Jehudah,  Mr.  Elieser,  252, 

257,  260 
Ben  Shamen,  140-1,  249 
Bentwich,    Mr.    Herbert,     111, 

202-3 
Berenice,  3 
Berlin,  Zionist  headquarters  at, 

211,  223 
Bernard  of  Clairvaux,  24 
Besant,  Sir  Walter,  cited,  29- 

30 
Bessarabian  Jews,  136 
Bethlehem,  6,  27,  39,  57 
Bethlehem,  cession  of,  33,  34 
Beyrout,  32,  61,  86,   236,  242; 

bombardment  and  capture  of, 

51 
Bezalel     School    of    Arts    and 

Crafts,  81,  140,  240,  248-50 
Bialik,  Hayyim,  257 
Bibars,  Sultan,  34-5 
Bilu,  the,  107,  135 
Bir  Jacob,  140 
Birnbaum,    Nathan,    177,    179- 

80,  187,  192 
Bishopric  of  Jerusalem,  55 
Bismarck,  175 
Bitlier,  sack  of,  5,  6 
Black,  William  Henry,  170 


Index 


289 


Blood  accusations,  51  et  seq. 
Blumenthal,  Joseph,  235 
B'nai  B'rith,  Order  of  the,  85, 

138 
Board  of  Deputies,  Jewish,  102 
Bohemund,   Prince  of   Antioch, 

21 
Bokhara,  immigration  from,  79 
Bokharans  in  Jerusalem,  79-80 
Bonar,  Andrew,  60 
"Box"  Colony,  80-1 
Brainin,  Reuben,  257 
Brandeis,  Judge  Louis,  212 
Britain,  50,  51,  53,  69,  97,  103- 

104,  113,  169-70,  183,  185-6, 

195,  196-9,  201-3,  235,  282- 

84 
British   consul    appointed,    49; 

fleet,  51;  protection  given  to 

Jews,  54-5 
Building  societies,  76,  88,  118 
Bukeah.     See  Pekin 
Bulgarian  Jewish  Colonization 

Society,  141 
Burton,  Sir  Richard,  cited,  278 


Cabbala,  the,  42 

Cabbalistic  learning,  42 

Caesarea,  13 

Cairo,  capture  of,  41 

Calabrese,    Hayyim    Vital,    42, 

162 
Caliphate  and  the  Jews,  16 
Calirrhoe,  272 
Canada,  Zionists  in,  194 
Carmathians,  revolt  of  the,  17 
Carmel,  Mount,  86 
Carmel  Wine  Company,  181 
Caro,  Joseph,  41 
Castinieh,  114,  138-41 
Catholics,  protection  of,  56 
Cazalet,  Edward,  103-4,  176 
Chalukah,  64  et  seq.,  217-8,  250 
Chamberlain,  Joseph,  200-1 
Charkow,  107,  135,  206 
Charlemagne  and  Palestine,  17 
Charles  of  Anjou,  35 
Chasanovitz,  Dr.  Joseph,  251 


Chassidim,  44 

Chederah,  116,  156-7 

Chefzibah,  157-8 

Chmielnicki,  44 

Chosroes  II.,  13,  14 

Chovevt  Zion,  110-17,  125, 
135-7,  140,  145,  146,  156-7, 
177-8,  181-2,  186,  189-90, 
198,  205,  208,  212-3,  222,  245, 
256,  260 

Christian  pilgrims,  12,  16-8, 
21,  101 

Christians,  Judaeo-,  5 

Clarendon,  Lord,  97 

Clement  VII.,  Pope,  162 

Climate  of  Palestine,  264,  265, 
272 

Cohen,  Zaki,  236-7 

Cohn,  Albert,  74,  232-3 

Cohn-Oppenheim  Olive  Grove, 
229,  245 

Cologne,  Zionist  headquarters 
at,  211,  223 

Colonization  of  Palestine,  66-7, 
89,  92,  105-158,  173,  213-14 

Commerce  in  Palestine,  21,  22, 
38,  41,  62,  165,  167 

Conder,  C.  R.,  66,  264,  277,  278 

Conrad  III.,  Emperor,  25 

Consistoire  Central  des  Israel- 
ites de  France,  74 

Constantine,  Emperor,  8-9,  19 

Constantinople,  163 

Constantius,  9 

Consuls  appointed  to  Jerusa- 
lem, 51 

Conversion  of  Jews,  attempted, 
8,  71 

Conversions  to  Judaism,  14, 
149,  164 

Cooper,  Miss,  72 

Co-operative  Settlement  Com- 
pany, 152 

Co-operative  Societies  in  Pales- 
tine, 76,  150,  226-28 

Copenhagen  Zionist  headquar- 
ters at,  212 

Cossacks,  atrocities  of,  44 

Cremieux,  Adolphe,  53,  70 


290 


Index 


Cresson,    Warder,    96-97,    169- 

170 
Crimean  War,  56,  57,  97 
Crusade  of  the  Children,  32-58 
Crusades,  the,  19-37 
Crusaders,  massacres  by,  20,  25 
Crypto- Jews,  162 
Cyprus,  34,  43,  198 
Cyrene,  revolt  in,  4 

Dagania,  151,  228 

Dagobert,  Patriarch,  21 

Daleika    151 

Damascus,  15,  16,  24,  25,  26,  28, 
35,  40,  45,  46,  50-54,  59,  60, 
61,  86,  89,  166,  174,  274 

Damascus  blood  accusation,  52- 
55,  174 

Damascus,  relations  with,  24, 
25,  26,  34 

Damascus,  siege  of,  25 

Damietta,  capture  of,  33 

Damson  introduced  from  Pales- 
tine, 22 

"Daniel  Deronda,"  176 

Darche  Chayim,  250 

David,  Tower  of,  41 

Dead  Sea,  101,  271,  273 

Delaika  Sahou.     See  Bedjen 

Dessau,  Jewish  community  of, 
229 

Dhaher  el  Amir,  47 

Disraeli,  Benjamin.  See  Bea- 
consfield,  Lord 

Djemama,  141 

Dolitzki,  Menahem,  257 

Dome  of  the  Rock,  16 

Donmeh,  163 

Dov.     See  Tantmah 

Doresh  Zion,  235 

Dorshei  Zion  Society,  147 

Drama,  Hebrew,  252 

Dreyfus,  Captain  Alfred,  186 

Druses,  17,  27,  50 

Dunant,  Henry,  175,  192 

Eastern  Empire,  11  et  seq.,  31, 
32 


Edessa,  conquest  of,  24,  25 

Edgar  Atheling,  20 

Education  in  Palestine,  73,  74, 
75,  83,  86,  89,  97-98,  110,  112, 
120,  122,  126,  128,  131,  137, 
142,  148,  152,  154,  178,  207, 
215,  216,  219,  223,  227-252, 
256 

Edward  I.  of  England,  35 

Edward  VII.  of  England,  102 

Egypt,  conquest  of,  40-1 

Egypt,  invasion  of,  26,  33 

Egypt»  Jew8  of,  38,  39,  44 

Egypt,  Palestine  attached  to, 
17,  38 

Egypt,  Zionists  in,  195 

Egyptian  invasions,  46-47,  50 

Ehrlich,  Paul,  220,  247 

Ekaterinoslaw,  113 

Ekron,  116,  134-5 

El  Arish,  21,  47,  61,  86,  141; 
projected  Jewish  settlement 
at,  197-9;  Desert  of,  47 

Eliot,  George,  176 

El  Jekum,  157 

Emigration  from  Palestine,  7, 
9,  14,  228,  258-9 

England.  See  Britain.  Choveve" 
Zion  in,  110,  111,  136,  157, 
177,  189-90,  222;  immigra- 
tion into,  105;  Jews  of,  52-3, 
96,  98,  102,  176,  187-8, 
194-6,  214;  massacres  in,  31; 
Rabbis  of,  32 ;  readmission  of 
the  Jews  to,  164 

English  missionaries,  58,  141 

En-Hakkore,  107 

Erez  Israel  Colonization  Soci- 
ety, 228 

Erter,  Isaac,  256 

Esdraelon,  Plain  of,  265,  267 

Espagnol,  254 

Es-Salt,  271 

Eugenius  III.,  Pope  25 

Euphrates,  104 

Europe,  Western,  immigration 
from,  38,  39 

Evelina  School,  74,  233-34 

Ezra,  140 


Index 


291 


Ezra  Society,  114,  136,  140, 
146,  148,  210,  222 

Fakhr  ud-Din,  Prince,  43 

Farchi,  48 

Fertility  of  Palestine,  22,  94-5, 
128,  261-6 

Finn,  James,  British  Consul, 
55,  61,  72,  85,  109,  259 

Finn,  Mrs.,  72-3,  109 

France,  52,  53-6,  62,  69,  100, 
165,  169,  174-5,  183,  189; 
crusaders  in,  19-20,  31;  Jew- 
ish immigration  from,  39; 
Jewish  immigration  to,  105; 
Jews  of,  17,  31,  51-2,  74,  100, 
165,  178,  232;  massacres  in, 
25,  32 ;  Rabbis  of,  32 

Franchetti,  Baron,  233 

Frank,  Jacob,  163-4 

Frankfurt,  Zionist  Congress  at, 
194 

Frankl,  Ludwig  August,  74, 
233 

Franks,  Palestine  under  the. 
See  Latin  kingdom 

Frederick,  Emperor,  31; 
crowned  at  Jerusalem,  34 

Frederick  II.,  Emperor,  33-4 

French  invasion,  47 

French  merchants,  expulsion  of, 
47 

French  Revolution,  164 

Frischmann,  David,  257 

Fulk  of  Anjou,  29 

Galicia,  44,  148,  255;  Zionists 
in,   194 

Galilee,  12-3,  28,  60-1,  84,  86, 
108,  142-52;  after  the  de- 
struction of  Jerusalem,  3, 
7-8;  Christian  facilities  in, 
9;  a  Jewish  spiritual  centre, 
8;  revolt  in,  9,  13;  Sea  of, 
84,  142-3,  148,  229,  268 

Gaonate,  attempted  revival  of, 
18 

Gaster,  Chief  Rabbi  M.,  195, 
202 

Gawler,  Colonel,  97-8 


Gaza,  47,  60,  86,  94,  265-7; 
battle  of,  34 

General  Jewish  Colonization 
Organization,  229 

Gennesareth,  Lake.  See  Gali- 
lee, Sea  of 

Georgian  settlers,  75,  77,  79-80 

Gerizim,  Mount,  6 

German  colonists,  66,  90,  98, 
260 

German  Emperor  and  Zionism, 
195 

Germany,  69,  79,  169,  183,  189, 
252;  Choveve"  Zion  in,  111, 
114,  189;  immigration  from, 
18,  36,  38,  218;  immigration 
to,  105;  massacres  in,  25,  32, 
36 

Gesher  ha  Yarden.  See  Mish- 
mar  ha  Yarden 

Geulah,  the,  229 

Ghederah,  135-6 

Ghor,  the,  265,  267,  268 

Gilead,  266;  mountains  of,  266 

Ginzberg,  Asher.  See  Achad 
Ha'Am 

Gladstone,  W.  E.,  103 

Godfrev  of  Bouillon,  20-21 

Goldsmid,  Col.  A.  E.  W.,  Ill, 
237 

Goldsmid,  Sir  Julian,  112 

Gordon,  David,  173-4 

Gordon,  Judah  Leon,  256 

Gottheil,  Prof.  R.,  195 

Graetz,  Heinrich,  235 

Greek  Church,  55-8,  183,  283 

Greek  revolution,  49 

Greenberg,  Mr.  L.  J.,  201,  203, 
207 

Gregory  IX.,  Pope,  33 

Gubail,  27 

Guttmacher,  Elijah,  100,  173, 
174 

Guy  de  Luslgnan,  28,  31 


Ha'Am,      Achad.    See     Achad 

Ha'Am 
Eachinuch,  241 


292 


Index 


Hadrian,  Emperor,  4,  6 
Haffkine,   Dr.   Waldemar,    114 
Hague,  Zionist  Congress  at  the, 

194,  210 
Haifa,  21,  61,  85-7,  89-91,  96, 

98,   108,    115,  221,  225,  227, 

229,  236,  242,  269,  272 
Haifa    Technical    College,    227, 

242 
Hakim  Bi-amrillah,  Caliph,  17 
Hamah,  50 
Hamburg,  Protestants  of,  163; 

Zionist  Congress  at,  194,  211 
Ea  Shiloach,  182 
Haskalah,  the,  255-6 
Hattin,  battle  of,  29,  31 
Hauran,     the,     89,     113,     117, 

266-7,  272 
Hay,  John  B.,  cited,  277-78 
Health    Bureau   at    Jerusalem, 

220 
Hebrew,  a  spoken  language,  87, 

88,    100,    180,    194,    209-210, 

215,  223,  232,  239-260 
Hebrew     Publication     Society, 

181-182 
Hebron,  27,  38,  60,  61,  85,  249 
Hedjaz  railway,  86 
Helena  visits  Palestine,  8 
Henry  II.  of  England,  29 
Henry  of  Champagne,  32 
Heraclius,  Emperor,  14 
Herbet  Menshie\  153 
Hermon,  Mount,  143,  147,  267, 

272 
Herod,  family  of,  3 
Herzl,  Theodore,  111,  114,  141, 

180,    182,    184-208,   210,  212, 

213,  216,  217,  222,  223 
Herz-Lamel,  Elise  von,  74,  233 
Herzliah,  91 
Hess,  Moses,  105,  172,  174-76, 

187 
Hilfsverein   der   deutschen  Ju- 

den,  219,  241-243,  245-247 
Hirsch,  Baron  Maurice  de,  116, 

186 
Holland,  immigration  from,  79, 

218 


Holy  places,  Christian,  6,  8,  12, 

19,  56-57,  283 
Holy  places,  discovery  of,  8 
Holy  Sepulchre,  Church  of  the, 

15,  16,  17,  21,  39,  55,  56,  57 
Holy  war,  Moslem,  29 
Horns,  50 
Hospitals  in  Palestine,  73,  74, 

77,  112,  154,  220,  230 
Hulda,  140,  141 
Hungary,  anti-Semitism  in,  190 
Hungary,     immigration     from, 

61,  79 
Hunt,  Holman,  182-183,  188 
Hygienic  Institute,  220 

Ibrahim,  Pasha,  50 

lea,    116,    117,    128,    131-132, 

134,  135,   138,   141-143,   147- 

151,   157,   186,  218-219,  227, 

236,  242 
Imber,  N.  H.,  257 
Immigration  into  Palestine,  16, 

21,  29,  33,  36-37,  43-45,  49, 

66-69,  76-77,  86,  92,  113-114 
Immigration,  restriction  of,  68- 

69,  113 
India,  Zionists  in,  194 
Innocent  III.,  Pope,  33 
Inquisition,  The  Holy,  42 
Isaac  of  Ispahan,  162 
Isabella  of  Jerusalem,  33 
Isaiah,  prohibition  of  reading, 

13 
Islam,  converts  to,  30 
Israel,    Joseph.     See    Benjamin 

II. 
Israel,  Michael  Boaz.     See  Cres- 

son,  Warder 
Italian  settlers,  22,  31,  42,  43 
Italy,    immigration    from,    43; 

King  of,  and   Zionism,   195; 

persecutions  in,  43 
Ito,  the,  207 

Jaffa,  21,  27,  46-7,  50,  60-1,  73, 
83,  86-89,  98,  112,  127,  181, 
210,  211,  223,  225,  227,  236, 
239,  242,  244,  248,  265,  272 


Index 


293 


Jaffa  Gymnasium,  211,  225, 
236,  239-44 

Jamnia,  college  at,  3,  4 

Jazzar.     See  Ahmed 

Jehuda  Halevi,  23 

Jehudieh,  106,  134 

Jemma,  149-50 

Jericho,  272 

Jerusalem,  16-21,  25-9,  36-42, 
44-5,  47-9,  57-63,  68-83, 
106-7,  139,  209,  218-220, 
225,  229,  233-4,  240,  242- 
4,  247-8;  a  spiritual  cen- 
tre, 38;  capture  of,  5,  29,  34; 
cession  of,  33-4;  Jewish 
learning  at,  18,  36,  64,  253; 
Jews  excluded  from,  6,  8; 
Jews  permitted  to  visit,  7-8 ; 
Latin  kingdom  of,  20-30; 
Literary  and  Scientific  Soci- 
ety. 58;  rebuilding  of,  4,  6; 
sack  of,  1,  3,  13,  21,  34;  sug- 
gested as  Papal  capital,  57 

Jeicish  Chronicle,  169,  196 

Jewish  Colonial  Trust,  195,  211, 
223 

Jewish  Colonization  Associa- 
tion.    See  lea 

Jewish  Colonization  Society  of 
Vienna,  229 

Jewish  National  Fund,  128, 
141,  194,  212,  225,  227,  245 

"Jewish  State,"  184,  187,  190- 
191,  198,  202 

Jewish  Students'  Society  for 
the  furtherance  of  the  Re-set- 
tlement of  Jews  in  Palestine, 
170 

Jewish  Territorial  Organiza- 
tion.    See  Ito 

Jewish  Women's  League  for 
cultural  work  in  Palestine. 
See  Union  of  Jewish  Women 

Jews  of  Palestine,  sufferings  of, 
1,  4,  6-9,  13,  17,  36-7 

"Jews'  Tree,"  116 

Jezreel,  Valley  of,  228 

Jochanan  ben  Zakkai,  3 

Joppa.    See  Jaffa 


Jordan,  River,  22,   101,   142-3, 

149,  151,  265 
Jordan,  Valley  of.    See  Ghor 
Joshua  the  Prince,  4 
Judaa,  desert  of,  265 
Judaeo-Persian,  254 
Judah,  Mountains  of,  265,  271 
Judah  the  Holy,  Rabbi,  7 
Judaism,  a  civilization,  2,  213; 

persecution    of,    4,    9,    12-3; 

toleration  of,  9,  10 
Judisch,  254,  259 
Julian,  Emperor,  9-10 
Julius  Severus,  5 
Justinian,  13 

Kadimah,  the,  104,  177,  187-8, 

192 
Kadimah,  the  Moscow,  229 
Kafr  Saba,  128 
Kalischer,  Hirsch,  99,  105,  138, 

172-4,  176 
Kaloniyeh,  138-9 
Kann,  Heer  Jacob,  207 
Karaites,  16 

Karigal,  Rabbi  Isaac,  60 
Katrah,  135-6,  242 
Kattowitz  Conference,  110 
Khaibar,  Jewish  king  of,  162 
Khalil,  Sultan,  35 
Kiamil  Pasha,  233 
Kieff,  Zionist  Congress  at,  194 
Kinnereth,  151.     See  also  Gen- 

nesareth 
Kitchener,  Lord,  93 
Klein,  Rev.  F.  A.,  cited,  266 
Kohan-Bernstein,  Dr.,  207 
Krochmal,  Nachman,  256 
Kurdistan,    immigration    from, 

79 

Lachmann,  Emil,  125,  128 

Ladino,  254,  259 

Lamel  School,  74,  233-5,  242 

Lammlein,  Asher,  162 

Land,  restrictions  on  purchase 

of,  69,  119 
Landau,  Miss  Annie,  234-5 


294 


Index 


Lansdovvne,  Lord,  201-2 

Lateran  Council,  33 

Latin   Church,  55-6,   183,   283; 

kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  20-30, 

278;   patriarchate,  58 
Lavy,  Dr.  A.,  112 
Lazare,  Bernard,  195 
Lazarus,  Emma,  177,  180 
Learned  societies  in  Palestine, 

250 
Lebanon,  mountains  of,  269 
Lehrer,  Reuben,  133 
Lemaan  Zion,  220 
Lemberg,   Zionist   Congress  -at, 

194 
Letteris,  Meir,  256 
Levanda,  Lev,  177-8,  251 
Levy-Bing,  Lazar,  175 
Lewy,  Gottschalk,  235 
Libraries  in  Palestine,  112,  128, 

133,  140,  154,  251 
Lilienblum,  Moses,   110,   178-9, 

187,  256 
Lionel    de    Rothschild    School, 

237 
Lisbon,  capture  of,  25 
Loeb,  Prof.  Jacques,  220 
Loewe,  Louis,  235 
Louis,  St.,  of  France,  34-5 
Louis  VII.  of  France,  25 
London,  the  financial  centre  of 

the   Zionist   movement,    223 ; 

Zionist   Congress    in,    195-6; 

Lord     Mayor     of,     convenes 

meeting,    54-5;     Society    for 

Promoting     Christianity 

among  the  Jews,  71-72 
Lovers   of    Zion.     See    ChovevS 

Zion 
Lowy,  Albert,  112,  170 
Lucius  Quietus,  4 
Lucius  Verus,  7 
Luria,  Isaac,  42,  162 
Luzzatto,  Samuel  David,  171 
Lydda,  102 


Ma'an,  271 

Maccabaean  Land  Company,  228 


Alaccabceans,  the,  188 
Maghrabim,  75,  81 
Magnus,  Sir  Philip,  247 
Mahanaim,  148 
Maimonides,  26 

Maize    introduced   from    Pales- 
tine, 22 
Malik-al-Adil,  32 
Malik-al-Kamil,  33 
Malik  Shah,  20 
Mandelstamm,  Max,  192,  207 
Manne,  M.  Z.,  257 
Manufactures  in  Palestine,  23, 

27,  73 
Mapu,  Abraham,  256 
Marah,  153 
Marcus  Aurelius,  7 
Margat,  29 

Marmorek,  Alexander,  207 
Maskereth   Bathia.     See  Ekron 
Maskilim,  the,  255 
Massacres  of  Jews,  20,  25,  32, 

35,  67,  177,  254 
Massacres  in  Palestine,  6,  9,  13, 

14,  20-21,  24,  36 
M'Cheyne,  Robert  Murray,  60 
Meassefim,  the,  254-255 
Mecca,  16 
Medsjdel,  151 

Mehemet,  Ali,  48,  54,  95-97 
Melhamieh,  149,  151 
Mendelssohn,  Moses,  254 
Mendes,  Donna  Gracia,  43 
Menton,  Ratti,  51-52 
Merchavia,  142,  151,  152,  228 
Merom,  Sea  of,  143-5,  268 
Mesha,  149,  150 
Mesopotamia,  immigration 

from,  79 
Messiahs,  pseudo-,  5,  44,    161— 

162 
Metternich,  Prince,  53 
Metullah,  116,  142,  147-8 
Midian,  272 
Migdal,  151,  229 
Mikveh  Israel,  99-100,  123,  124, 

137,   173,  219-220,  236,  242 
Millennarians,  Christian,  164 
Millon,  the,  252 


Index 


295 


Mills,  John,  170 

Minerals  in  Palestine,  271 

Mishkenoth  Shaanannim,   74 

Mishmar  ha  Yarden,  146-147 

Mishnah,  7 

Missionaries  in  Palestine,  58 

Mista'arbim,  92,  93 

Mizpah,  151 

Moab,  265-267 

Moawiya,  16 

Mohammed,  15 

Mohammed,  Jews  and,  6 

Mohilever,  Rabbi  Samuel,   110, 

139 
Molcho,  Solomon,  42,  162 
Mongon  invasion,  35,  36 
Montefiore,   Sir  Moses,   49,  60, 

70,  73,  75-6,  94-98,  203,  228, 

233,  235,  260 
Montefiore    Testimonial    Fund, 

76,  78,  98,  228 
Moria,  the,  229 
Morocco,  immigration  from,  75, 

76,  79,  90,  96 
Moser,  Mr.  Jacob,  243 
Moses  of  Crete,  161 
Mozah,  138 
Mukhneh,  267 
Music,  conservatories  of,  248 

Nablous,  27,  60,  61,  85,  86 
Nachalat,  Reuben,  133-134 
Nachmanides,  36 
Napier,  Sir  Charles,  51 
Napoleon  I.,  47-48,  165 
Napoleon  III.,  56 
Nasi,  Joseph,  42-43,  94 
Naxos,  43 

Nazareth,  12,  39,  47 
Nazareth,  cession  of,  33 
Netter,  Charles,  100,  173 
New  York,  Zionists  in,  194 
Nice,  Council  of,  8 
Nissim  ben  Abraham,  162 
Noah,   Mordecai   Manuel,    166- 

167 
Nordau,    Max,    188,    192,  207, 

220 
Nureddin,  24-26 


Obadiah  of  Bertinoro,  40 

Occupations  of  Jews,  17,  27,  38, 
41,  62,  71,  73,  76,  77,  81,  89, 
118 

Odessa  Committee,  109,  127, 
134,  192,  222-223,  239,  240, 
243.     See  also  Choveve  Zion 

Oliphant,  Laurence,  100-104, 
108,  115,  157,  176 

Olive  Tree  Fund,  227 

Olives,  Mount  of,  248 

Omar,  Caliph,  15,  16 

Omar,  Mosque  of,  16 

Orange  cultivation,  126-127, 
134,  135,  139,  154,  267 

Oranges  introduced  from  Pal- 
estine, 22,  23 

Order  of  Ancient  Maccabaeans, 
203,  228 

Order  of  the  Sword  for  the  De- 
livery of  Jerusalem,  36 

Ordinances  of  Omar,  16 

Orfa,  immigration  from,  79 

Orfiote  Jews  in  Jerusalem,  81 

Orient  Colonization  Company, 
229 

Owen,  Sir  Hugh,  170 

Palastina  Irrigation  Society, 
229 

Palestine,  a  land  of  refuge,  38, 
92,  165 

Palestine  Colonization  Fund,  98 

Palestine  Commission,  210 

Palestine  Exploration  Fund,  58, 
101 

Palestine  Land  Development 
Company,  151,  211,  227,  228 

Palestine  office,  210 

Palestine  Society,  98-99 

Palestinian  Agricultural  Soci- 
ety, 124 

Palestinian  Real  Estate  Com- 
pany, 229 

Palestinian  Plantation  Societv, 
229 

Palmerston,  Lord,  52-53,  97 

Pardess,  the,  126-127 

Parthians,  7 


296 


Index 


Patriarch  of  Judaea,  8 

Paulli,  Holger,  164 

Peel,  Sir  Robert,  53,  54 

Pekiin,  85,  92-94,  98 

Perez,  I.  L.,  257 

Periodicals  in  Palestine,  181-82 

Persecution  of  Jews,  39,  42-44, 

92,    105,    112,    165,    180,   213, 

254,  256 
Persia,  immigration  from,  79 
Persians  in  Jerusalem,  80-81 
Persians,  invasion  by,  14-15,  35 
Petachiah  of  Ratisbon,  28,  93 
Petach   Tikvah,    106,    115,    116, 

124-129,  242,  250 
P6tavel,  Abraham,  175 
Peter,  King  of  Cyprus,  36 
Peter  the  Hermit,  19 
Philip  Augustus  of  France,  29, 

31,  32 
Phocas,  Emperor,  13 
Physicians,  Jewish,  24,  36,  220, 

252 
Pied  Piper  of  Hamelin,  33 
Pilgrims,  12,  17-18,  21,  23,  38 
Pinsker,  Leo,  110,  112,  177-179, 

187,  190 
Plehve,  195 
Poland,  immigration  from,  49, 

61,  144,  169 
Poland,  persecutions  in,  44 
Popes,  19,  25,  33,  42,  57,  162, 

195 
Population,  growth  of  the  Jew- 
ish,   57-61,    70,    75,    78,    80, 

84-86,  88,  90,  133-134 
Ports  of  Palestine,  273-274 
Portugal,  162 
Post,  Rev.  G.  E.,  cited,  265,  266, 

268-9 
Powers  of  Europe,  47,  48 
Prag,  Mr.  Joseph,  111 
Press,  Hebrew,  252,  258 
Protestants  in  Palestine,  55 
Prussia,  49,  55 


Rabbinowitsch,  Saul   Phinehas, 
110 


Rabbis  and  Zionism,  194-195 
Railways  in  Palestine,  73,  79, 
86,   104,  139,   142,   151,  273- 
276 
Rainfall  in  Palestine,  268 
Ramleh,  20,  27 
Randegger-Friedenberg,     Signo- 

ra,  99 
Raphaim,  Valley  of,  97 
Rapoport,  S.  J.,  256 
Raymund  of  Toulouse,  21 
Raymund,  Count  of  Tripoli,  26 
Raynald  of  Chatillon,  29 
Rechoboth,    131,    139-140,    181, 

242 
Rechoboth,    Bokharan    Colony, 

79-80 
Red  Sea,  21,  166,  168 
Remarks  upon  the  present  con- 
dition of  the  Jews  in  Pales- 
tine, 170-171 
Reubeni,  David,  162 
Rhodes  blood  accusation,  52,  53 
Richard  I.  of  England,  26,  31, 

32 
Richard  of  Cornwall,  34 
Rishon  le  Zion,   107,   115,  116, 

130,  133,  153 
Robert  of  Normandy,  20 
"Rome    and    Jerusalem,"    174, 

175 
Romans,  attitude  of  the,  3,  4 
Romans,  revolts  against  the,  2, 

4-7,  9,  13 
Roseberv,  Lord,  113 
Rosh  Pinah,  108,  116,  143-144, 

148 
Rothschild  family,  74,  232,  234, 

235 
Rothschild,  Baron  Edmund  de, 
93,  108,  113,  115-117,  125- 
128,  130-131,  133-135,  142, 
145-148,  153,  155-157,  213, 
216,  218,  242,  247 
Rothschild,    Baron    Lionel    de, 

233,  237 
Rothschild,  Baroness  E.  de,  154 
Rothschild,  Lord,   196-197 
Roumania,    immigration    from, 


Index 


297 


77,  79,  90,  102,  105,  106,  108, 

109,  115,  136,  143 
Roumanian  Government,  102 
Riilf,  Isaac,  179,  195 
Russia,   immigration   from,   55, 

61,  68,  75-76,  77,  84,  86,  92, 

105,   106,   108,   109,   125,   135, 

139,  155,  179 
Russia,   Jews    of,    67,    92,    103, 

105,  109,  173,  178,  218 
Russian  Colonization  Societies, 

155 
Russian  fleet,  51 
Russian  Government,  45,  47,  49, 

50,  56,  69,  75,  101,  110,  112, 

168,  183, 195 
Russo-Turkish  War,  66,  67,  76 

Sabbathai  Zevi,  44,  162-164 
Safed,  22,  41-42,  45,  48,  60,  70, 

84-85,  89,  97,   106,   144,   146, 

157,  236,  242,  249 
St.  John  of  Jerusalem,  Order  of, 

28,29 
Saladin,  26,  29,  31,  32 
Saladin,  House  of,  36 
Salisbury,  Lord,  101,  113 
Salonica,  42,  163 
Salvador,  Joseph,  166 
Samaria.     See    also    Sebastiva, 

108,  153-158 
Samaritans,  27,  85,  86 
Samaritans,  holy  places  of,  6 
Samaritans,  Romans  and,  6,  7, 

13 
Samuel,  Sydney,  107 
Sanaa,  164 
Saracens,  30 

Saracens  invade  Palestine,  13 
Sarag03si,  Joseph,  40 
Schatz,    Professor    Boris,    248- 

250 
Schiff,  Mr.  Jacob,  245 
Scholarship  and  Judaism,  3 
Scholarship  in  Palestine,  40 
Schulman,  Kalman,  256 
Scotland,  General   Assembly  of 

the  Church  of,  60,  94 
Sebag-Montefiore,  Sir  J.,  Ill 


Sebastiya,  27 

Sedjerah,  148-149,  219 

Selim,  Sultan,  41,  42 

Sephardim,  75,  76,  79,  81 

Sepphoris,  3,  28 

Sequerra,  Solomon,  169,  170 

Serenus,  162 

Shaare  Zion,  251 

Shaftesbury,  Lord,  109 

Shalom,  Abraham,  162 

Shalot  introduced  from  Pales- 
tine, 22 

Shapiro,  Constantin,  257 

Sharon,  Plain  of,  86,  265,  269 

Shechem.     See  Nablous 

Shefa,  Amr,  96 

Shefeyah,  153 

Shepherd,  Rabbi  as,  38 

Shirguh,  Vizier  of  Egypt,  26 

Sidon,  60,  61,  86,  271 

Siloam,  266 

Simon,  Sir  John,  112 

Singer,  Rev.  S.,  Ill 

Sinai  Peninsula,  229,  271 

Slavery,  Jews  sold  into,  1,  6 

Smith,  Sir  George  Adam,  cited, 
267 

Smith,  Sir  W.  Sidney,  48 

Smolenskin,  Percy,  175-176, 
256 

Society  for  the  Colonization  of 
the  Holy  Land  (Roumanian), 
102 

Society  for  the  Relief  of  Jewish 
Agriculturists  and  Artisans, 
(Russian),  112 

Society  for  the  Relief  of  Perse- 
cuted Jews,  73,  109 

Society  of  Jewish  Doctors  and 
Scientists  for  Sanitary  Im- 
provements in  Palestine,  221 

Society  of  Jews,  187 

SokoloV,  Mr.  Nahum,  212,  257 

Spaeth,  Johann  Peter,  164 

Spain,  Jews  expelled  from,  40; 
massacres  in,  25 

Stephen  of  Blois,  20 

Stiles,  Ezra,  cited,  60 

Stratford  de  Redcliffe,  Lord,  97 


298 


Index 


Straus,  Mr.  Nathan,  221 

Suleiman  the  Magnificent,  41- 
43 

Survey  of  Palestine,  93,  101 

Swaythling,  Lord,  111 

Synhedrin,  3,  4,  7,  41 

Syria,  46,  50-1,  attack  on  coasts 
of,  37 ;  ceded  to  Mehemet  Ali, 
51 ;  conquest  of,  41,  51 ;  inde- 
pendence of,  20 ;  Mongol  inva- 
sion of,  36-7;  rebellions  in, 
50-51 

Syrian  Colonization  Fund,  73, 
81 

Tabor,  Mount,  148 
Tachkemoni  School,  the,  244 
Tadmor,  28 
Talmud,  the,  272 
Talmud,  "Jerusalem,"  7 
Tancred,  Prince  of  Galilee,  21 
Tantura,  132,  155 
Tartars  overrun  Palestine,   34, 

36,  39 
Tchernichovski,  S.,  257 
Teachers'  Union,  the,  240 
Tel  Aviv,  88-89,  129 
Tel  el  Hammixn,  272 
Temple,  the,  6,  9,  16,  38 
Temple,  Order  of  the,  28-30 
Temple,  permission  to  rebuild, 

4,  10 
Theobald  of  Champagne,  34 
Tiberias,  3,  7,  12,  28,  43-4,  47, 

60-1,    70,    84,    89,    94-6,    97, 

117,  242,  249,  272 
Tiberias    Land   and   Plantation 

Company,  151,  229 
Tiberias  Lake.     See  Galilee,  Sea 

of 
Timur   (Tamerlane),  39 
Titus,  1,  3 
Touro  bequest,  74 
Touro,  Judah,  73 
Trans-Jordania,  86,  89,  157-58, 

271 
Tripoli,  29,  35 

Tschlenow,  Dr.  E.  W.,  211-12 
Tunis,  35 


Turkey,  a  land  of  refuge,  42 
Turkish  Government  and  settle- 
ment  of   Jews,    98-104,    113, 
129,   139,   177,   186,   188,   192, 
195,  208,  224,  281-84 
Turkish  Revolution,  208 
Turkomans,  invasion  of,  18 
Turks   in   Palestine,   20,   40   et 

seq. 
Turnus,  Rufus,  6 
Tyre,  27,  29,  61;    Jewish  Col- 
lege at,  18 

Um  el  Djemal,  153 

Union  for  the  Interests  of  Or- 
thodox Judaism,  242 

Union  of  Jewish  Women,  220, 
248 

United  States,  49,  69,  113,  169, 
179.  See  also  America; 
Choveve  Zion  in  the,  111, 
113,  222;  Zionists  in,  195 

University,  a  Jewish,  104 

University,  a  Hebrew,  211,  247, 
258 

Urban,  II.,  Pope,  19 

Usha,  4,  7 

Ussischkin,  M.,  192,  205,  207, 
240 

Venice,  42,  99 

Vienna  University,  Jewish  stu- 
dents at,  170,  180,  187; 
Zionist  Congress  at,  193,  211, 
247;  Zionist  headquarters  at, 
223 

Wad-el-Chanin,  133-4 

War,  the  European,  209-12,  266 

Warburg,  Prof.  Otto,  207,  210, 

211 
Warsaw,  139 

Weizmann,  Dr.  Chaim,  202,  247 
Welt,  Die,  191 
Wends,    Crusaders    attack    the, 

25 
Wessely,  N.  H.,  255 
Wilna,  Zionist  Congress  at,  206 


Index 


299 


Wine  industry,  116-7,  123,  125- 

27,  132-35,  136,  139-41,  142, 

150,  153 
Wissotzky,  Wolf,  110,  245 
Wolffsohn,  David,  207,  211 
Wolffsohn  Fund,  211,  227 
Working-men's     Colonies,     130, 

137-9,  143,  148,  150-54,  226 
Workmen's  dwellings,  211,  219, 

225,  227 

Yarmuk,  battle  of  the,  15 
Yellin,  Mr.  David,  246,  257 
Yemenites  in  Jerusalem,  80-81 


Yemen,  Jews  of,  6,  79,  122,  139 
Yesod  Hamaaleh,  116,  144 

Zahir,  Governor  of  Acre,  46 
Zammarin.     See  Ziehron  Jacob 
Zangwill,  Mr.  Israel,  188,  192, 

203,  207 
Ziehron,  Jacob,  108,  110,  115-6, 

153-5,  221 
Zion  Commonwealth,  228 
Zionist   Societies   in   Palestine, 

84 
Zionist    movement,     114,     151, 

159,  184-216,  223,  247,  256 


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